Metal Gear Rising: Infinite
by ptabs0101
Summary: Raiden was forced to take a job to find some girl and bring her to New Zealand by a bunch of mysterious twins. It was a simple rescue mission. Nothing special about it. But things were never simple for the cyborg ninja as he finds himself in the floating city of Columbia. What was the most confusing however was the fact that it was the year 1912. Not a Raiden/Elizabeth pairing.
1. Bring us the girl

AN:

This is another plot bunny that refuses to leave me and the only way to satisfy it was to write it down. I know that some of you were probably waiting for me to update my other stories so it's just going to be a possible one-shot and I might also leave it out for adoption.

Raiden will be replacing Booker Dewitt in this story, not like I have anything against Booker. This is post-Revengeance so Raiden will be wearing a suit and will look mostly human like in the last cutscene after the credits.

Since Raiden is a cyborg, he won't be getting any Vigors but I still plan to include them in the story. And because Raiden's last name was never mentioned in the Metal Gear series, I will be giving him a last name.

Chapter 1

There were four of them, probably more hiding. They were all armed with High-frequency machetes and had military grade implants yet their XIFF ID came up as unaffiliated; the same that cyborgs from Desperado had.

From their stance, Raiden could tell that they're highly trained. It doesn't take a genius to see that they're mercenaries contracted out to kill him.

The mercenaries entered a fighting stance as they cautiously approached the cyborg ninja. They were a lot smarter than the last bunch that just basically threw themselves at his blade.

Raiden brought his arm forward. Then there was an electric distortion in the space before him as a long black case that he held in his hand materialized from nowhere. He pressed the button located on the side of the handle to release a katana still sheathed in its scabbard suspended in mid-air. The sheath had a trigger and magazine attached to it in reminiscence to a gun despite being a blade.

In one swift motion, Raiden grabbed the katana while throwing the case at one of the charging mercenaries, disorienting him. He ducked under the swing that was meant to lop of his head from the second cyborg and then he slammed the butt of his sword's handle on the abdomen of that same cyborg that attempted to decapitate him.

With the handle of the blade still on the cyborg's stomach, Raiden squeezed the trigger of the sheath that launched a crimson katana from it in a small fiery explosion, knocking the cyborg off his feet. He then snatched the handle of the HF Murasama blade in midair and swung it at the cyborg still in the air, slicing through him from the right side of his hip to his left shoulder. Cyborg Number Two was down for the count.

Without turning, the silver haired cyborg blocked the HF machete of Cyborg Number Three who tried to land a sneak attack on him. After successfully parrying the strike, he performed a counterattack on Cyborg Number Three, which left the foe stunned. He then kicked the dazed cyborg into the air and jumped up into the air with him where Raiden entered Blade Mode.

Time slowed to a crawl for the silver haired cyborg. He then began the slice Cyborg Number Three into tiny pieces till he saw the mercenary's fuel cells.

"Bullseye!" he cried out as he snatched the fuel cells from the remains of the enemy cyborg. He crushed the fuel cells in his hand to replenish his electrolytes as he landed on the ground.

He kicked off the shoe on his left foot, revealing a skeletal metal foot. The footwear struck the fourth cyborg directly at his faceplate and distracted him for a moment. A moment was that Raiden needed.

He used the elevated pieces on his foot, near the heel portion as a grip for the HF Murasama blade. He then did a handstand and performed a breakdance-like maneuver that sliced the remaining two cyborgs into ribbons.

After the floor-sweep attack did its job, Raiden removed the blade from the foot grip as he returned to standing position. He then flung the bloodstains off the blade with a flick of his right hand and proceeded to sheath the katana.

"What an outstanding performance," the cyborg ninja heard a male voice with a British accent spoke up behind him as he was putting on the shoe that he kicked off, "We were planning to request a small demonstration of your skills."

He quickly spun around to face the owner of the voice with a hand on the HF blade, ready to take it out on a moment's notice. There were two of them, a man and a woman. The man who was obviously the one that spoke up dressed in a fine suit with dark brown pants, a light tan overcoat, a dark tan vest underneath, white collar shirt, and blue tie. The woman was dressed identically with the only real difference was that she had an ankle length dark brown dress. Both the man and woman had red hair and regarded the cyborg with blue eyes that betrayed no emotion. He took note that their clothes were out of date by a large margin.

"But that would be irrelevant at this point," the woman calmly said, gesturing to the dead bodies surrounding Raiden, "I expected nothing less from the infamous 'Jack the Ripper'."

Raiden bristled at the mere mention of _that_ name. His body emitted a crimson aura for a split second because of his momentarily loss of temper.

"Now, now, sister," the man scolded his twin, "You know that he doesn't like being referred to that name. Isn't that right, Mr. _Lightning Bolt_?"

Raiden chose not to answer the man and kept his hand on his blade.

"Who are you?" Raiden asked in a threatening tone as he unsheathed the Murasama blade slightly.

"It had come to our attention that you recently resigned from your previous establishment," the man said, paying no mind to Raiden's silent threat.

"And would like to employ someone of your mind and skillset for a contract of ours," the woman continued.

"And of course, you will be paid handsomely for it."

"How much are you willing to pay me?" the cyborg ninja inquired the twins.

"For starters, a pardon from your crimes at Denver, Colorado and at the Shabhazabad Air Base."

"Revoking the bounty placed on your life."

"Enough money to live a comfortable lifestyle with your family."

"And a chance to atone for your sins."

"I don't know who you two are but you should know that I have a low tolerance for bullshit," Raiden growled with a bit of the Ripper seeped into his voice as he still kept the blade unsheathed slightly.

"I told you that he wouldn't appreciate our verbal prodding," the woman said to her twin.

And you also said that he would kill us before hearing us out," the man retorted.

Deciding that he had enough of their nonsense, Raiden unsheathed the katana all the way and pointed the tip at the two.

"You're really starting to piss me off," Raiden growled as he channeled the Ripper, hoping to intimidate them, "So tell me what the hell you want or I'll show why I was called Jack the Ripper."

"It's simple really," the woman said, unperturbed by the Ripper, "Bring us the girl-"

"And wipe away the debt," her twin finished.

Without warning, a bright flash of light engulfed the cyborg ninja's surroundings and overloading his optics.

Raiden thought that they must have thrown a flash grenade which would explain his momentarily blindness but that didn't explain why he was suddenly falling.

His optical implants recalibrated itself to see that he was falling from the sky and was about to hit the ocean below him fast.

"What the hell!? How the hell did I get up here in the first place!?" Raiden screamed at the top of his lungs as the waters below rapidly became closer.

Brushing aside those questions for now, he braced his body for impact just in the nick of time. His body sank into the ocean like a rock due to its composition.

He broke out of the surface to get a breath of air that he still needed. Fortunately, his current cyborg body wasn't as heavy as the last one so he could still swim to a limited degree.

It was raining pretty hard while waves crashed violently across his form in an attempt to drown the cyborg. In spite of this, he could see a lighthouse not too far from where he was.

He figured that he shouldn't question why there was a lighthouse in the middle of nowhere with no ships in sight if it meant that he could get to some form of dry land. So without further ado, he hastily swam to the small suspicious landmass in hopes to find someone who could assist him.

Once he reached the front door of the building, he spotted a note nailed on the entrance that had the words: "Bring us the girl! This is your last chance!" written on it in an angry scrawl. He ignored the ominous letter as he entered the building but he stored it away in the back of his mind just in case.

The lighthouse interior wasn't what you would expect in any lighthouse on the mainland. The room beyond the front door had wooden floors and a warm atmosphere that felt almost welcoming to the cyborg ninja. But he didn't relax his guard in the least because of his old training kicking in.

Right in front of the door under the central pillar of the tower, a small table was set up with a water basin with a lit candle on the right side and a couple of white wash cloths on the left. A frame hung above the table with a sign made of cloth and stitching that read: "Of Thy Sins, Shall I Wash Thee".

"I doubt that just water can wash away the blood on these hands," Raiden scoffed at the mere idea of penitence through washing of one's hands with _holy_ water.

He then tried to contact his allies from Maverick to request for a pick up via Codec. He was somewhat dismayed that there was no signal, which he found impossible since his Codec had an excellent coverage that the only way for there to be no signal if he was on the moon. Of course, that last part was just a joke that he would make whenever he receives a call from some location where you could never get a signal with an ordinary phone.

Well, the only thing that he could do now was to search the rest of the building. You never know if you might find something useful.

A single artificial compound eye unit that resembled an eye-patch slid over his left eye, allowing him to see the world around him in Augmented Reality Mode.

Important items were highlighted by the Heads-Up Displays but as he zoomed in to examine them closer, only turned out to be outdated radios and telephones. The only actual things that were considered worth investigating were the package upstairs, the corpse on the floor above the previous, and some sort of pod on the top of the lighthouse.

He should inspect the body first since it was closer and then he would check out the probe since it was the most suspicious out of everything here.

The cyborg made his way towards the stairs. Another sign similar to the one hanging above the water basin was on the wall next to the stairwell. This one read: "From Sodom, Shall I Lead Thee".

Raiden couldn't help but be reminded about what Monsoon said that religion was a joke after reading sign. He may not agree with the nihilistic cyborg but even he wasn't a firm believer of God or any other deity for that matter.

"Will God still judge me like one of his children?" he said to himself as he ascended the metal steps slowly, "Or will He just condemn me to eternal damnation?"

Reaching the landing, he saw a large room that took up the entire floor. Tables, desk, a large sink, a bed, and several crates were stacked up along one of the walls with a couple of lamps on the walls above, illuminating everything.

He set his eyes on the object that was placed on the bed. A stained, oak wood box sat in the center of the mattress, looking out of place. He picked the box up and scanned it for booby traps. It may seemed like he was paranoid but you could never be too sure.

Seeing a shiny brass nameplate on the lid, Raiden's eyes narrowed when he saw what was written.

In perfectly inscribed calligraphy was his name.

The only possible conclusion that he could come to was that this had something to do with those two earlier.

After finding no booby traps on the box, he lifted the lid and looked at the contents. Inside were several things. Under the lid, two papers were taped, one looked like a postcard with a golden statue of an angel that had her arms outstretched. The other one next to it was a blank paper with symbols and numbers written on it; from left to right, there was an open scroll with X1 next to it, a key with X2 next to it, and a saber facing blade-down with X2 next to it.

Setting that aside for the moment, he looked at the rest of the box and was intrigued to see an iron key. Picking it up, the cyborg examined it with careful eyes. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it other than the pictures on the handle. One side depicted a bird flying free while the other had an empty birdcage.

The next contents were a photograph of a young woman, a small leather bag, and a large folded piece of paper.

He picked up the black and white picture of a young woman that looked around her late teens or early twenties wearing a white blouse and a long blue skirt. The name "Elizabeth" was written at the top.

He flipped the picture over to see the words: "Find her, protect her" printed on the back.

Next was the bag. Inside it was a large handful of silver coins that looked to be about a dollar apiece, totaling to around $100.

"What the hell is all of this?" he wondered out loud as he placed the items that he inspected in his coat pocket. He took out the folded piece of paper and unfolded it to see that it was a note.

_Dear Mr. Raiden,_

_We can assume that you are very confused with the situation that you currently find yourself in. But rest assured, your presence here was no accident. You have nothing to be afraid of. However, what you will experience from this point onward will seem strange, and in some cases very dangerous. Just do what comes naturally to you and you will survive. Or you will die. Both possibilities are very likely with what you are about to face._

_Your task is a rather simple one. Find the girl in the photograph. Help her in any way you can and bring her back to New Zealand. Do this, and you will find yourself back with your family where you belong._

_Welcome to Columbia._

_Sincerely,_

_R & R Lutece_

Raiden crumpled the paper in his hand with enough strength to crush a rock as his eyes turned crimson. R and R Lutece must be the man and the woman earlier so they were definitely the reason why he was stranded in the middle of the ocean.

For what purpose did they want him to rescue the girl in the photo? More importantly, how were able to transport him to this lighthouse in the first place?

From the letter, he guessed that those two were watching him in some way. He searched his person to find any listening devices and he used AR mode to comb for hidden cameras. Sadly, he found none so he had no idea how they were watching him.

He could just refused to do the job but if the twins took the trouble to bring him here, then they'll most likely leave him stuck here on his own with the only way back to the mainland was swimming there himself.

His cyborg body may have greatly increased his physical parameters but he wouldn't want to risk swimming since he didn't know how far he was from the landmass.

"I guess I don't really have much of a choice at the moment," Jack sighed as he went up the next flight of stairs.

"But it doesn't mean I'll like it," he said out loud, stepping over an overturned table and broken plates on the floor as he ascended to the next floor.

A lone light shined down on a man tied to a chair with a burlap bag over his head. Blood pooled down on the floor under him and running toward the stairs and several splatters on the wall behind him.

The cyborg slowly treaded forward. Dress shoes tiptoeing around the blood on the floor as he drew closer to get a better look. There was a bloody hole in the center of the man's head, indicating that it was a bullet to the head that ended the man's life. Judging by the bloody instruments on the nearby table and the various large cuts that lined his arms and torso, Raiden could safely tell that the man had been tortured before being executed.

He was only a little bit fazed by the scene before, having seen and done far worse when he was a child-soldier back in Liberia. His eyes moved down and saw a piece of paper pinned to the man's shirt. The same writing that had been on the letter he read stated: "Be warned. Things may get worse."

Gritting his teeth and shaking his head, Raiden turned away from the poor stiff and saw another flight of stairs that he walked towards to.

The farther up that he went, the cyborg noticed that he was nearing the top of the lighthouse and was now outside. The storm was now going strong, lightning and thunder clapped in the distance as heavy raindrops struck the tower's frame and his form, making it difficult to hear anything else.

With the HF Murasama blade strapped to his belt and hidden from sight by advance camouflage technology, Raiden reached the top of the lighthouse to see a door on his left leading into where the spotlight of the tower was located. He remembered that this was where the pod-like object was located.

In the center of the door was a statue of an angel with her arms opened. Three bells were lined in front with symbols carved into it.

Looking the door over with AR Mode, Raiden realized that the door was mechanized and cutting it down would disable the pod.

"Wait..." the cyborg realized that the symbols of the bells were familiar. He pulled out the paper with the same markings written on it.

"Hm, it looks like some kind password or sequence that I have to follow."

Giving one last look at the paper, he flicked the bell with the open scroll first by using his gloved metal finger. Going to the middle bell, the one with a key, he struck it twice. Moving to the last bell, he hit it twice like the one before and waited.

At first nothing happened then the skies lit up a bright red and let out a loud horn that drowned out the sound of the storm.

Raiden spun around with the blood-red katana out and looked up the sky as more loud horns resounded through the air.

"What the hell is this shit!? he shouted, gripping the HF blade as the the bellowing soon came to an end.

Mechanics within the lighthouse started churning. The large light in the center opened up and slid up, allowing the floor to flip over to reveal a red barbers chair where it had been set up.

Stepping in cautiously out of the rain, Raiden walked around the chair and saw nothing special about but looks can be deceiving.

"_They don't expect me to just sit in some chair that suddenly popped out of the floor, do they?"_ he thought to himself. But recollecting how they sent him here, he figured that they really do expect him to do just that.

Putting the sword back inside its sheath and turning the camouflage mode on, he settled down on the comfortable seat. Then restraints on the armrests snapped shut around his wrists.

"Why am I not surprised?" he dryly commented as more restraints clamped around his torso and his feet to keep him in place.

"**Make yourself ready, pilgrim. The bindings are there as a safeguard,"** a female voice spoke from nearby loud speakers as he prepared to break out of the bindings with his superhuman strength. Then several small walls came out of the floor surrounding the chair before coming together and sealing it up tightly.

The floor suddenly dropped open, leaving the cyborg ninja suspended above turning gears and what he recognized as rockets that were beginning to fire up.

"Shit!" he cursed as the rockets began to power up. He was glad that he didn't break out of the bindings beforehand or he would have surely fallen off and get incinerated by the rockets.

"**Ascension…Ascension in the count of FIVE…countdown of FOUR..."** the chair righted itself back to its original position as the whole lighthouse started to shake. **"THREE…TWO…"**

Raiden gripped the armrests to the point of crushing them in his hands. Teeth gritted so hard that it would have broken were they ordinary teeth as the voice continued counting down.

"**ONE…"** the pod was launched from the top of the tower and was shot into the sky.

The cyborg grunted as the force of the launch pressed down on him into the velvet cushions.

"**Ascension…Ascension…"** Raiden would have been panicking if he hadn't experienced something similar to this before. It was a good thing that he did was what he thought as he watched the clouds outside slipping by.

"**Five thousand feet…ten thousand feet…fifteen thousand feet…"** the pod broke through the clouds, blinding the cyborg as the sun was suddenly revealed. When the light died down a little, he looked out of the porthole in front of him and felt his jaw dropped.

Outside was a city...FLOATING IN THE GODDAMN SKY!

He could only stare at the magnificent sight before him in complete awe. He forgot everything that had happened up to now. It was beautiful. Each cluster of buildings seemed to be connected by a railway and gondola system. Airships and blimps drifted around the island-like structures as they hovered above the clouds.

The cyborg ninja was struck speechless. How was this even possible? The US government or even the fucking UN would have mentioned something about a city that was approximately the size of Manhattan floating over fucking heads.

The pod continued move amongst the buildings. One of them floated by, showing a poster that depicted an old man with shoulder length white hair and beard with "Father Comstock, Our Prophet" displayed proudly on it.

The man bore a regal atmosphere befitting of a title such as "Prophet" but Raiden simply saw him as some religious nut job.

Not a few seconds later, the pod perched on top of a building and slowly lowered inside, passing scaffoldings with words that were illuminated by the sun.

_Why Would He Send His Savior Unto Us_

_If We Will Not Raise A Finger For Our Own Salvation_

_And Though We Deserved Not His Mercy_

_He Has Led Us To This New Eden_

_A Last Chance For Redemption_

Reading each statement, Raiden couldn't help but wonder what kind place was this and how the hell did he get here. As the pod continued to lower, a large stained glass image was shown with the sun shining through it. The image of the same man that he saw on the poster before was standing tall with people surrounding him in prayer and a banner above him that said "And The Prophet Shall Lead The People To The New Eden."

Everything came to a stop. The front wall of the pod hissed and slowly opened to the inside of what looked like a church. The restraints all released Raiden, allowing him to pull himself out of the chair. Not like they stood a chance at preventing that if he really wanted to get off the chair.

He pulled himself out of the chamber and into the ankle deep water that covered the whole floor. Looking up at the mural of the religious leader that people obviously worshipped, Raiden took out the photo of the girl that he was asked-more like forced to find.

He tried once again to contact his allies back at Maverick but there was still no one picking up. He then tried out all of his other contacts such as Sonny and Bladewolf at Solis and Otacon aka Hal Emmerich. Hell, he even tried calling his wife in New Zealand. But like all of his prior attempts, they ended in failure.

"She's not going to find herself so I better get moving," he said to himself before putting the picture away and sloshing his way toward the nearby archway leading farther into the church.

At the moment, he should stay hidden. There was no way of knowing how people would react to a cyborg. Oh wait; he does know how people would react to a cyborg. People would think that he was just like one of them from afar but when they get a closer look, they immediately keep their distance. It was nothing new for him but he should stay out of sight.

Remembering the dead body of the man, he could take a stab in the dark that this place was dangerous even though it looked like paradise.

He noticed an open window that he could use as an exit a few feet above him. Bracing his legs with energy, he jumped up to it and began to make his way through the city in the sky.

The cyborg ninja was completely unaware that the choices that he would soon have to make would give him the redemption that he yearned or bring damnation to us all.

The fair city of Columbia would either be liberated by Raiden, protector of the weak or be razed to the ground by the second coming of Jack the Ripper. Either way, blood will fill the streets.


	2. Heads or Tails

AN:

As you have noticed, I took out the part where the creepy priest baptizes/drowns the main character because let's face it, there's no way for him to overpower Raiden let alone try to drown him without Raiden killing him first. Also, slaughtering everyone inside a church is bound to get you noticed and I want to keep our favorite cyborg ninja incognito for now at least.

For info on Raiden's current cyborg body, it has a better performance than his first cyborg body but it's not on par with the Custom Cyborg body that he had in Revengeance so he won't be as OP.

I know that the enemies in Columbia won't even make Raiden break a sweat (even if he could sweat) so I'm going to add in some extra stuff to make it challenging for him. As for what they are, you going to have to see for yourself.

P.S.

Like I was going to let this be a one-shot or let someone adopt this story. XD

Chapter 2

Raiden was able to find out a few important details about Columbia from a newspaper that he swiped. One, Zachary Comstock, the so-called prophet founded the city. Two, the people here actually worship Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. Three, there was a rebel group known as the Vox Populi, which was Latin for "Voice of the People". Four, there was some sort of fair going on so everything was free. Lastly, it was the year 1912.

Wait, what?

Raiden's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the date that the newspaper said it was. He swiped another newsprint to see of the one that he got was a fake. After seeing that it wasn't, he checked his Codec to see if Kevin or Doktor put him in virtual reality simulation as some kind of prank, again.

Seeing that he wasn't in a VR training simulation, he had to conclude that either this was a very elaborate trick, meant to mess with him or he was really a hundred years back in the past. He half expected for a flying De Lorean to pop up out of nowhere with the Lutece twins inside.

He dropped down to street level without being spotted. With paper crumpled in his gloved hand, Raiden headed toward a nearby bench and flopped down hard on it, causing it to creak dangerously with his not so normal weight. Placing his head in his unoccupied hand, he tried to make sense of all of this as he ignored the looks that nearby people were sending his way.

The fact that he was practically forced to take an assignment in a strange city that defied the laws of physics was bad enough. But the fact that he somehow went back in time a hundred and six years back into the past sure took the cake.

Raiden may not be a genius compared to Sonny and Otacon but even he knew that this was defiance to the laws of physics.

That's when he remembered the two people who sent him here. He quickly recomposed himself in fear of releasing the Ripper. Even though he never heard of a city floating in the sky, he shouldn't let the Ripper out just in case of it disrupting the timeline.

He took out his sunglasses from his coat pocket and then put it on. Placing the newspaper down, he stood up from the bench and began walking along the bustling streets of the floating town. The farther that he walked, the more it felt he was back in time. Everything looked like what America had been in this period. Fortunately, his suit was still able to blend in despite looking like he was going to a funeral with all the bright colors that everyone else wore.

He walked past a carriage being pulled by a horse only to realize that it was actually mechanical. The metal steed was powered by a power conduit attached to its back as it trotted forward in a slow yet steady pace. This was another thing that wasn't supposed to be here back then.

The creation had the cyborg ninja worried for it reminded him of a Metal Gear. He really hoped that he didn't have to deal with clockwork versions of UGs so his life would be easier.

Pressing on, Raiden had to stop among a group of people who were waiting for a gate at the end of the island-like ship to open and allowed them passage. A parade of airships with floats on top of them drifted by, depicting everything that Comstock had done for the citizens of Columbia.

The last float caught his attention. It showed Comstock holding a child in his arms with a woman holding his arm. The banner under the image said, "A Miracle Child is Born. The Future of the City is Secured!"

He heard the narrator of the parade mentioned that the Lamb was the future of the city and she was to lead the Sodom Below into righteousness.

That last part unsettled the cyborg as the parade finally passed by and a bridge came up, connecting the islands together.

Trying to remain inconspicuous, he did his best that he could to blend in with the crowds. But every so often, someone sneak glances at his ash-gray blond hair and at the several scars near his mouth that he got due to his cyborg ninja conversion. No one, though, would approach him and ask about them. It was probably because he looked quite intimidating with the black suit and sunglasses.

Now that he thought about it, his outfit does resemble on of the agents from Men In Black.

Even though he was looking for the girl in the photo, Raiden took note of the various shop and stands that were open. It wasn't anything like the shopping districts from his time. It was organized and didn't have over the top advertisements, not counting the ones about Comstock.

"_Maybe I should buy my family a souvenir?"_ he asked himself, not really being serious about it.

In the distance was a large statue of an angel with her arms outstretched that towered over the city like a guardian watching over them.

Reaching into his coat pocket, Raiden pulled out the postcard that he had gotten from the box and saw that it was a match.

"Monument Island, huh?" he said to himself before looking back to the tower, "Guess that's where she's being kept."

"Telegram for Mr. Raiden!" Raiden jumped in surprise and he was about to take out his sword before looking down to see a boy holding out a letter for him.

"Telegram for you, sir," the boy said as the cyborg took the letter in his hands. The kid ran off before Raiden could ask him anything.

Sighing, Raiden turned the card over and started to read.

"Raiden STOP"

"Do not alert Comstock to your presence STOP."

"Whatever you do, do not pick #77 STOP."

"Lutece"

He looked back at the monument before continuing on his walk. He tore the telegram and threw the shredded pieces over the edge as he walked so no one else could read it.

He already knew that he shouldn't alert this Comstock character but the bit about picking number seventy-seven was what caught his mind. What was so important about the number seventy-seven?

A few minutes later, he found himself stepping into a fair that had been set up for the festival going on. Stands of food, arcade games, and people selling various items were set up everywhere as crowds gathered at each one.

"_John would have loved it here,"_ Raiden fondly thought of his son as he walked past the sites. He was not really interested in this kind of things since he never actually had a real childhood. But there was one particular sight that made his jaw drop in amazement.

The anachronistic cyborg almost felt his jaw fall off from his head when he saw performers literally showing off superpowers. The bolts of electricity and flames from their fingertips couldn't be special effects since he checked it out with AR mode.

The audience watched the performance with amazement while Raiden, on the other hand, saw this as another threat. If a bunch of actors were paid to advertise these "Vigors", there was a high chance that the soldiers here had something even more potent than the ones you could easily buy.

He doubted that they would do anything to his cyborg body but he should bring some for Otacon to analyze them.

He moved on and made his way to the fair. He ignored the numerous stands that were giving away free food and drinks and the row of games as he moved.

Raiden's blood boiled metaphorically when he saw the invention called the "Handyman".

It was about the same size as a Mastiff UG except its design wasn't as sleek and it had a more gorilla like stance. It had a man's head on the top and a heart encase in a glass sphere in the center of its chest. The hands on this era's cyborg looked big enough to grab a full-grown man like he was nothing and probably had the strength to go with it.

Raiden almost released the Ripper then and there at the sight of the audience looking at the Handyman like he was a toy. He could clearly see the tears and pain in the fellow man turned machine's eyes even when they didn't. He knew that look all too well for he too had the same look in his eyes whenever he looked in a mirror. Unlike the Handyman, he had long lost the ability to shed tears.

He was relieved though when he noticed one of the spectators watched the former man with pity in her eyes. Maybe the citizens here weren't so oblivious as the cyborg ninja thought them to be.

After passing by a sultry looking saleslady who was obviously flirting with him, he disregarded the robotic vending machine that blocked his and simply used Ninja Run to scale over the gate with none being the wiser.

On the other side was a small courtyard and standing before him was the man and woman from before. The man held a chalkboard with a Heads/Tails tally mark written on it while the woman held a silver plate with a coin on it.

Knowing that there was more to them than meets the eye; Raiden became more alert and placed a hand on the HF Murasama blade with his finger on the trigger.

"Greetings. Let us properly introduce ourselves. My name is Robert. This is my sister, Rosalind," the man told him in a monotone voice, "Which side will you? Heads?"

"Or tails?" said the woman as she tossed the coin to him.

Instead of catching the coin in his hand, he drew out the HF samurai sword and sliced the silver penny cleanly in half. He then sheathed the katana and allowed the camo-tech to hide the weapon from sight. This was all done so fast that no one would have noticed it without any cybernetic enhancements to their eyes.

"Neither," was the short response from the cyborg ninja as his eyes glowed crimson and both halves of the coin fell to the ground beside him. Luckily, his sunglasses hid them so you wouldn't see it unless you were closer.

Normally, Raiden wouldn't be this impulsive but these people had forcibly flung him into the past and expected him to be jerked around like a dog on a leash. So it wasn't really his fault if he wasn't in the mood for games.

"I told you that he would do that," the woman said as she smiled and turned to her brother.

"So you did, sister," Robert nodded, also looking amused like his sister.

"What the hell is going on here!?" Raiden demanded as he glared with the menacing slightly diminished due to his sunglasses, "Why did you bring me here!?"

The twins were not threatened by his hostility in the least so they made no move.

"I believe that we have already told you why we brought you here," Rosalind said, "Isn't that right, Robert?"

"Yes we did, Rosalind," Robert added, "Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt."

"That is the objective we gave you to follow."

"One that you would be more than capable of completing."

"Unless you die of course. Even though you are confident in your abilities as a cyborg ninja, there are still many foes that could match you in battle."

The cyborg looked between them. He was annoyed from the constant switching of sentences between the twins that it served more to worsen his already bad mood than as an explanation.

"Why don't you pick someone else to be your errand boy?" he asked as he was still really pissed.

"All of the previous candidates that we sent weren't as successful," Rosalind replied as she shrugged.

"And from your reputation," Robert continued, "You are the most likely candidate to make a difference."

"Oh, really now? I feel so honored," Raiden said with as much sarcasm that he could muster, "But I have to say "Fuck You" so pick someone else to do your dirty work and send me back to my own goddamn timeline!"

"I'm afraid that we can't comply to your wishes," the woman said.

"Not until you complete the goal that we set up for you," her brother added.

"Is that so?" Raiden inquired as he began to let the Ripper take control.

"Even if we did, would you willingly leave an innocent girl who was stolen from her real family to a fate far crueler than yours, _Jack the Ripper_?"

This statement made the former child-soldier reeled back in shock, all murderous intentions forgotten.

"What do you mean "stolen from her family"?" he growled.

"It is as we just stated," the man said, "She was taken from her actual family and is currently imprisoned in Monument Island."

"As for what purpose, you will eventually uncover that bit of information yourself."

Raiden had thought that the girl was the daughter of some important official for the twins to ransom at first. But after learning that it wasn't the case, it reminded him of the Patriots kidnapping Olga's Gurlukovich's daughter, Sonny to force her to obey their orders and of Desperado stealing children to forge them into the next line of Jack the Rippers. It was safe to say that he had a soft spot for kids and would do anything in his power to prevent disaster from befalling onto them. His determination to this belief was evidenced when he waged a one-man war against an international corporation to rescue the abducted street kids.

If this "Elizabeth" was taken away from her family to be something worse than the Ripper, there was no way in the seven circles of hell that he was going to leave the girl alone without rescuing her first. As much as he hated to admit it, the twins were right to say that he would never willingly leave a child (she wasn't really a kid anymore though) to a harsh end if he didn't have anything to say about it.

"Fine, I'll take the job," he sighed as he calmed down the psychopath within him.

"I told you that he would be swayed once he learned of the circumstances," Robert turned to his twin with a smug grin.

"Indeed, brother," Rosalind said before facing the cyborg, "We will offer you aid in your quest. However, we can only offer support from behind the scenes. You will have to do the rest on your own with your natural instincts being your guide."

"Nothing new to me," the cyborg said, "Except maybe for the time-traveling, the superpowers, and the fucking city floating in the sky."

He sighed one more time at the events that occurred before turning his gaze to the giant tower where his charge was kept.

"I seemed to have a knack for saving kids," Raiden said to himself as he grinned in amusement, "It doesn't matter where or _when_; there's always people who needs my help."

"Now how am I-what the?" he turned back to the twins, as he was about to ask them how was he supposed to reach his destination only to find no one there.

"Shit," he cursed.

Looking down at the coin that he sliced in half, he noticed that one half was tails while the other half was heads.

He wondered what was the purpose of the attempted coin toss as walked down the cobblestone walkway. He made sure to keep the angel-shaped tower in sight so he would know if he was going the right way or not.

As he passed by a couple of police officers, he saw that one of them had a device attached to his arm with three hooks on the end that was whirling like a saw blade. It looked like some kind of weapon but he didn't really see the practical use that it had in battle so there must be more to it than it appeared to be.

Using, his cybernetically enhanced hearing, Raiden was able to eavesdrop on the officers' conversation. The device was called a Sky-Hook. Sky-Hooks are powerfully magnetized to the freight hooks and Sky-Lines in Columbia, allowing their users to make death-defying leaps from point-to-point with the knowledge that they will automatically latch on. Additionally, the Sky-Hook's bladed scoops and rotary motor allow it to be used as a lethal melee weapon. The cyborg may have to acquire one later since he noticed that there were some places that he couldn't by jumping to them even with his cybernetic enhancements.

He kept moving forward until he saw a large group of civilians heading through an archway at the end of the path. He decided to follow them at a safe distance to find out what was going on.

He stopped in front of a sign that was set up in front if the doorway leading to where they were gathering when he reached it.

The sign showed a black metallic and clawed hand with a barcode and a serial number right under the barcode on the back of it.

"You Shall Know The False Shepard By His Mark!" Raiden whispered softly the words written on the sign as he clenched his left hand. He knew that mark anywhere for it was the same writings on the back of his own left hand. Back at his time, there were scanners that were meant to scan the barcodes and serial numbers on the back of cyborgs' left hand so they would be able to determine if they were military grade cyborgs or merely civilians with cybernetic implants.

The mark on the sign looked exactly like the one on Raiden's, right down to the last digit. The hand on the sign even looked like his robotic hand. It was fortunate that he had the foresight to wear gloves to keep them hidden.

It wasn't a coincidence that the hand shown in the poster and his hand were just the same. It was as if they knew that the cyborg was coming. He had to have his hand concealed for he speculated nothing good would happen if people had a glimpse of it. Why else would they have a sign to warn the citizens of what would be for them the coming of the Anti-Christ?

Maintaining his calm composure, Raiden went through the entryway and arrived at a small park before stopping in front of a stage where a man was speaking to a large audience. It appeared to be a raffle with everyone wanted to test their luck today.

The cyborg wanted to slip by the crowd unnoticed but there were too many people so he had to be very careful with his strength lest he bumped into someone.

"Excuse me. Pardon me," he said politely as he slowly pushed his way through.

"What's the rush, handsome?" he heard a young woman say beside him.

He turned to see a young woman holding a basket, which was filled with baseballs, while smiling sweetly and fluttering her eyelashes in a flirtatious manner. His wife would kill him if she ever saw him around a woman like that.

"The raffle is just starting. Don't you feel lucky?" she said to him.

"I don't believe in luck," he replied, "And I'm not interested in buying."

"There's no charge for the raffle, sir. You been sleeping under a rock?" she giggled.

He didn't want to blow his cover already so he grabbed one of the balls with his gloved hand.

"Why're you wearing gloves on a hot day like this?" the woman took notice of his gloves as he grabbed the ball.

"I was a soldier. I got burned pretty bad during my service in Africa so I wear the gloves to cover them up," he quickly made an excuse for his outfit as he stared at the one he drew. He was about to say Liberia instead of Africa but he wasn't sure if it was called Liberia back then despite having lived there in his youth and he didn't want to bring up any more memories of him being a child-soldier. Just saying that he was a regular soldier was enough to bring out flashes of the horrors that he done.

It turned out that each ball had a number on them. Normally, the contestants would pick a card with a random number on it in a raffle but here it was a baseball.

He turned the ball that he drew over to see a bright red seventy-seven on it. His eyes widened as he recalled the telegram that warned him not to pick number seventy-seven. It wasn't a password or a sequence but a number for a raffle.

He had to get rid of it before it was too late but he couldn't with the woman and the police officers curiously watching him.

He didn't pay attention to the woman wishing him luck before heading back into the crowd.

He tried to come up with a plan to get of rid of the ball as the man on the stage asked for a bowl filled with small slips of paper. The drawing was about to begin and he still had the ball with him!

"Is that not the prettiest young white girl in all of Columbia? Ha ha!" the speaker said to the audience as a young attractive woman walked on stage.

Wait, 'white girl'?

Raiden felt uneasy from what he just heard. The cheering around him didn't help settle this sensation. There was something about this raffle that didn't seem right.

Against his better judgment, he decided that he should keep the ball to see how it plays out. He placed a hand over the invisible HF Murasama blade just in case.

"Alright then, the winner is…" said the man as he reached into the bowl and pulled out a piece of paper, "Number 77!"

"Oh, great," Raiden groaned as a woman next to him called out that he had the winning number which made the audience begin cheering again.

"Number 77, come forward and claim your prize!" the man shouted as the crowd practically pushed the cyborg to the stage. He stood in front of the stage as the curtains behind the stage opened.

What he saw behind the curtains left him speechless. A fake jungle scenery was revealed and opened up as a white man and a black woman that were tied up were brought to the front.

"First throw! First Throw! First Throw!" the people behind him chanted.

"_These bastards!"_

The people here were racists! And they saw publicly stoning this poor interracial couple as some form of entertainment!

The interracial couple begged not to be harmed as the man on stage grinned down at Raiden.

"Well, son? Are you going to throw it…or are you taking your coffee _black_ these days?" he asked as he laughed loudly at his own racist joke with many others joining him.

This only made the Jack the Ripper persona screamed for release from his mental prison so that he could butcher these bastards. The merciless killer thrashed at the bars that held him back and it took all the willpower that Raiden had to control the Ripper. But containing the Ripper proved to be too hard for him because it was a very rare time in his life when he didn't want to.

Because of his rage, he unintentionally crushed the ball in his hand. The sound of it breaking left the whole audience and the man on stage silenced in shock at both Raiden's reaction and his strength.

"Well, well, well, looks like we have a Vox sympathizer here, folks?" the man spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Actually, I'm much worse than that," Raiden said as he slowly took off his sunglasses and put it back in his coat pocket with his eyes still closed in anger.

"_Far_ worse," he chuckled menacingly as he opened his glowing red eyes. Jack the Ripper was out.

"What the!" the man backed away in fear at the sight of the Ripper. But he tripped over a loose board and fell on his back.

Two police officers broke out of the state of terror that the cyborg induced onto them and ran to him. He merely stood there as the two officers tried to pull his arms to his back. With a shrug of his shoulders, the two men were knocked to the ground. However, one of them still held on to a piece of fabric from his clothes, which was unfortunately the glove of his left hand.

The barcode and serial number stood out proudly for all to see as there was no glove to cover it up.

"It's him!" a nearby man screamed as he pointed at the cyborg's left hand in fear.

The cyborg ninja brought his left hand up and observed it like he never saw it before, turning it around so both the crowd behind him and the man on stage got a good look at it.

"Now, where'd you get that brand, boy?" the man asked darkly, "Don't you know that makes you the back stabbing snake in the grass, False Shepard?"

Everyone in the audience gasped and stepped back as more cops arrived and surrounded him with clubs raised while one had a Sky-Hook. That totaled to seven men, including the two who tried to restrain him earlier. The cyborg glared at the officers with a look that promised an excruciatingly painful death to them all.

"I ain't letting no False Shepard into our flock!" the man exclaimed, making the crowd boom with agreement. He looked down at the police officers with a sadistic grin, "Show him what we got planned for him, boys!"

"Why that's just being nasty," Jack the Ripper chuckled as he met the man's sadistic grin with his own. He deactivated the camo on the sword strapped to his belt and completely enjoyed the surprised look on everyone's faces.

"Oh look, boys! The False Prophet here got himself a fancy sword!" the man sneered at the HF Murasama blade, not knowing the true dangers of it, "Time to die, FALSE SHEPARD!"

All of the cops charged at the cyborg with a battle cry. Raiden spread his legs apart, placed a finger on the trigger of the sheath, and held a hand over the handle. Time seemed to slow down for him as he charged for the quickdraw attack even though he wasn't using Blade Mode. In a move similar to a certain Brazilian swordsman, he executed rapid and consecutive slashes around him right after he pulled the trigger. To the untrained eye, it looked like red flashes materialized around the former child-soldier. The police officers that were about to attack suddenly stopped in their tracks.

After sheathing the blade with a resounding _CLICK_, the cops were sliced cleanly in half.

"Too easy."

AN:

You're probably wondering why Raiden purposely revealed himself in the Raffle. To answer your question, Raiden was really pissed off and a really pissed off Raiden tends to cut subtlety into tiny little pieces, throw the pieces out the window and then throw a grenade after them for good measure.


	3. The girl, the bird and the cyborg ninja

AN:

Raiden was able to find out more about Columbia than Booker did at the start because he was actually paying attention to his surroundings. He may not be in his own time but he was trained to adapt to alien environments rather quickly while gathering as much information as he could.

Also, it will be explained how Raiden will be able to replenish his fuel cells and repair his injuries in this chapter.

I know that it already says so in the summary but this is NOT a Raiden/Elizabeth pairing.

This is the longest chapter that I have _**EVER**_ written.

Chapter 3

"Too easy," Raiden scoffed at the police officers' bisected corpses while the crowd had begun to scream in terror and ran from the area as fast as their legs could carry them, which still wasn't enough to outrun the cyborg if he really wanted to kill them all.

These people may be sick racist fucks but they were still civilians that didn't know how to defend themselves. His hands were already stained with too much blood of civilians caught in the crossfire so he let them be. Although, he might discuss a few things with the man on the stage earlier.

By discussing with the man, the cyborg really meant that he was going to rip the son of a bitch's damn head off.

More cops came from down the steps and into the now cleared area with clubs and Sky-Hooks as they charged at the cyborg with the intention to kill him.

"Stop him! Stop him! The False Shepard's come to lead our Lamb astray!" the man on the stage shouted as he fled with everyone else. Raiden was about to leap at him to shut him up once and for all but one of the cops shot his left hand out where a shockwave hit the cyborg. The silver haired cyborg then found himself levitating in midair.

Seeing that he was defenseless, the cops charged at him with renewed drive. It looked like killing the False Prophet will be a lot easier now because of the Bucking Bronco Vigor.

_Eight_

But Raiden was far from helpless even though he was floating. He was able to stab the HF Murasama blade into the ground, keeping him in place. He landed two devastating kicks on two officers in the jaws, fracturing them. He placed both hands on the pommel of the blade and swung his legs around in a circle, which made the policemen back away in fear of getting hit but one wasn't able to get away in time and had his skull caved in on itself by the cyborg.

_Five_

Whatever the policeman did to him had finally begun to wear off as he felt the pull of gravity on his body again. With hands still on the pommel and keeping him aloft, he flipped his body over the cops, pulling the red sword out from the ground as he did so. He was now behind one of the cops. He then brought his blade back and drove it through his foe's back, severing the spine and stabbing the heart in one move. Without pulling the blade out of the corpse, he swung at two more officers beside him with their ally's body still hanging on it so the blade temporarily became a bludgeon, which batted them aside like nothing where they landed with necks bent at odd angles.

_Two_

One of the remaining cops left hand started crack as if it was made out of clay, revealing blood beneath the split skin.

Remembering the shockwave and the demonstration of Vigors, Raiden knew what the man was about to do so he swung his sword at them, not in an attempt to slash them since they were too far but to throw the corpse of the cop still limp on the blade at them. The Vigor hit the dead body, making it levitate instead of the cyborg.

He ran to the surviving cops with Ninja Run where he easily cleaved through the one with the Vigor. Three thuds could be heard in the battlefield. The first thud being the corpse falling back to the ground while the rest was the two halves of the Vigor-user falling to the ground.

_One_

The last officer took out his sidearm, an old-fashioned pistol (at least to the Raiden) and began shooting at the cyborg with it as he backed away. The cyborg ninja simply deflected the bullets with his sword like it was something he did everyday as he approached the last cop at a leisurely pace.

The officer's back hit the stage at the same time that the clip of his pistol ran empty. He still continued squeezing the trigger even when he ran out of bullets. He was too terrified to reload the handgun. In a last act of desperation, he threw the handgun at the cyborg with all of his might only for Raiden to catch the weapon in mid-flight and crush it in his grip.

The officer gawked at the cyborg like he was face to face with the devil himself. According to their religion, he undoubtedly was the devil.

With one quick swing, the "False Shepard" decapitated the policeman. The severed head retained the look of horror at witnessing the bringer of its owner's death.

After the battle was over, Raiden removed the bloodstains on his blade with a flick of his wrist. He then proceeded to sheath the blade and let it disappear from sight. The Ripper had somewhat subsided as there was no one left to kill.

It took little to no effort to take these officers down. In fact, he could have killed them with his bare hands. Being a cyborg and all allowed him to greatly surpass the physical capabilities of regular soldiers, which meant that he could kill a large number of soldiers without cybernetics implants with relative ease.

The sudden use of the Vigor however, was able to catch him off guard. He should be more careful from now on. There was no way for him to tell if someone had a Vigor or not.

He remembered the other Vigors that the performers displayed previously so he had an inkling of what to anticipate from that. So if he sees lightning, fire or whatever come out of someone's hand, he would knew who his first targets will be.

He surveyed his surroundings with AR mode. He saw more soldiers far from his current location, armed with pistols, clubs and Sky-Hooks.

Speaking of Sky-Hooks, it was about time for him to get one of his own. He needed it to travel around Columbia through the Sky-Lines. He bent down beside the body of the first cop and took the still functional Sky-Hook off the left arm where he strapped it onto the right side of his belt.

He turned to where the groups of cops came from and the next group of attackers was. He had two options to proceed from here. The first one was sneaking past them and safely making his way to Monument Island. The second one was to just go right up to them and start killing everybody in his path like it was nobody's business and be done with it.

With the image of the interracial couple fresh in his mind, he found the second alternative a lot more appealing. So he's going with just cutting down everybody that gets in his way.

Raiden grinned at the plan as he held the HF Murasama blade in his right hand. He then made his way to the angel-shaped tower with the promise to kill all who blocked his path. He didn't have to wait long as two officers came running.

"Halt, False Shepard!" they shouted at him as they brought out their firearms.

"I'm going to _enjoy_ this."

00000

_Few minutes and a lot of dead bodies later_

It felt like every corner had a group of enemies that were waiting for Raiden. But it was just fine for the cyborg ninja since he had yet to face an opponent that could pose an actual challenge.

He could see the gate at the end of the road. He didn't spare a glance at the policemen that he cut down behind him. But he did spare a glance at the small group of officers going through the gate.

"It's the Fireman! The Fireman's on his way!" one of the officers shouted, "He'll take care of that monster!"

By the time that he reached the end, the giant wooden doors were slammed shut. As he was about to slice the gate apart, his scanners detected abnormal heat signatures behind the gate.

Something was behind those doors and it was dangerous enough that the officers were willing to stay out of its way.

Raiden executed an X-shaped slice on the doors and then gave it a light kick (light for him anyway), breaking it down.

Entering another empty road, the cyborg saw a man in thick armor on top of a stack of crates ahead. The armor that the man wore looked like welding armor complete with a mask to match, as he stood tall.

Raiden entered a fighting stance, sword raised to his shoulders. He was ready for whatever this enemy could dish out.

He had to honestly say that he wasn't ready for the man to suddenly burst into flames and spread fires along the buildings and nearby stands. He couldn't feel the heat due to being a cyborg but his knew that it was pretty damn hot from what his scanners were telling him.

The cyborg grinned in anticipation.

"Maybe this guy could put up a decent fight," he muttered as the Fireman leapt down from his perch and started to stalk forward.

"Burn in hell, in the name of our Prophet!" the Vigor-powered man shouted as he formed a ball of magma in his hand. He then launched it at Raiden. The cyborg rolled to the sides and avoided the attack that left the spot where he was previously standing smoldering. The cyborg ninja used Ninja Run to charge at the Fireman while darting left and right to dodge the explosive fireballs.

Seeing that the fireballs weren't working, the Fireman shot a jet of fire from each hand that propelled him into the air to completely evade Raiden's blade. Once the Fireman reached a certain height, the flames on his body increased in intensity, turning his armor white hot. He then came crashing back down to earth like an asteroid. He was also aiming for Raiden.

Raiden jumped back and evaded the Firman's meteor-like attack, which turned the spot where he was earlier into a smoking crater.

The cyborg idly noted that almost everything was on fire because of their battle.

He knew that this fight was getting nowhere if he continued to just charge at the Fireman recklessly. His sword may be the best option to finish his enemy off but the Fireman would just repeat that flaming meteor maneuver. Wait, that's it!

The best way to defeat this guy was when he was about to land.

Putting his strategy to the test, Raiden repeated his last attempt to kill the Fireman. As predicted, the Fireman did the exact same attack that he tried to use on him earlier.

Instead of jumping away to escape it, he met it head on with Blade Mode. He felt the very familiar sensation of time slowing down when his scanners detected another thing that shouldn't have existed in this timeline yet.

Wanting to make sure that whatever his scanners detected was what it told him it was, he quickly sliced the Fireman apart to reveal a glowing blue object. Concluding the Zandatsu, he snatched the object from the Fireman's remains and then leapt back to escape the fiery explosion that burst out at the armored man's death.

Raiden held a shimmering blue bottle in his hand. The label on the back of the bottle said that it was called Salts and that they recharge Vigors. But what his scanners told him that what was in his hand was an electrolyte fuel cell shaped like a bottle. There was a way to check if this "Salt" really could replenish his fuel cells.

"Here goes nothing," he said before gulping down the bottle of Salt without hesitation. He couldn't tell the flavor of the blue liquid due to his taste receptors were turned off and he wasn't in the mood to try it if it tasted bad or not.

The bottle fell from his hand where it shattered on the ground as an immense amount of energy coursed through his circuitry. Whatever was that bottle was even more effective than the electrolyte fuel cells from his time.

"I can get used to this," he grinned in satisfaction as he stretched arms. It seemed that he doesn't have to worry about running out of fuel cells since he could just buy a substitute for them in a vending machine. But that still left how he was going to repair himself if he ever got damaged since Doktor didn't give this body a self-repair unit either.

Setting aside that issue for now, the cyborg went back on his trek to where the girl was being kept.

Unsurprisingly, the brief moment of rest ended when a machine-gun turret sent a hailstorm of bullets in his general direction.

He used Ninja Run to get closer to the turret while deflecting bullets with his sword. Then another group of police officers ran out to engage him.

He flipped over the policemen and landed right behind the turret. He grabbed the shoulders of the automaton on the turret and forced it to aim at the policemen. He made short work of the first few officers as they were torn apart by their own turret. But one of them was able to shoot a lightning bolt at the machine, making Raiden jump back to avoid getting electrocuted. With it temporarily disabled, the remaining officers were able to destroy the turret, leaving the cyborg wide open.

He threw the HF Murasama blade at them like a javelin, impaling the Vigor-user of the group to the ground. He attached his Sky-Hook to his left arm and then pounced at them. The blades of the Sky-Hook dug into a man's face, spraying blood and chunks of flesh through the air as it ripped through his terrified face. The cyborg pulled it out of the dead officer's face and used its hook-like extensions to seize a female officer by the neck where he snapped the woman's neck with a twist of his wrist.

With no more enemies shooting at him again, Raiden pulled the crimson blade out of the deceased Vigor-user's chest. After removing the blood on his two melee weapons, he made his way to a place called the Blue Ribbon.

Squaring his shoulders, the cyborg gripped his sword as he slowly opened the door, slipping inside without a noise so that wouldn't attract any unnecessary attention from anyone inside the building.

The Blue Ribbon was a restaurant and bar as it turned out and a very fine one at that. Good, Raiden needed a drink. Not like he can get intoxicated because of his cybernetic body. It was more of a habit really but it would serve to make him feel a little better.

"We have company," he heard a female voice that he instantly recognized. He turned to see Rosalind standing at the opening to the kitchen. Her brother, Robert was at the bar, inattentively wiping down the surface as looked up at their guest.

"It would seem we do, sister," her brother replied as he ceased cleaning the bar.

"Explain," he said to them as he crossed his arms, "Why does everyone in this city want me dead? What's the deal with me being some kind of-"

"False Shepard?" Robert stated rather than asked, making the cyborg raise an eyebrow.

"Come to lead the Lamb astray," Rosalind finished as she went into the kitchen and disappeared.

"Uhh, yeah," Raiden said, only a little surprised by their knowledge for he recalled that they were watching him somehow, "How did they know that I was coming when I didn't even know that this place existed till today?"

"The answer is easy to find once you see everything the way that they should be," Robert spoke as he went back to casually cleaning the bar.

"Enough with the riddles! I just became some anti-Christ in a floating city and the only reason why I'm still doing your _job_ is to save the girl, the least that you can do is quit it with all this cryptic bullshit and give me a proper answer!"

"All the answers you will need are at the end of this journey," Rosalind said as she came back in from the kitchen, holding a platter dish with a bottle that was filled with glowing yellow liquid, "This you will find quite useful."

"The difference between life and death," her brother added.

"What is it?" Raiden asked them before taking the bottle. The label on the bottle said "Lutece Infusion" so he figured that they were the ones who created this.

"Magnetic Repulsion Field," Robert said as though it was common knowledge, "Around one's body, it can become rather handy."

"If it doesn't kill you," Rosalind said, making Raiden's head snap up, "But that won't be an issue for you due to your cybernetic body being capable of withstanding the effects but you will still feel a minor shock to your system."

"The field was supposed to amplify your body's bio-electric aura and project it around you, creating a membrane that pulses off your skin and protects you from harm. But since your body is not organic, the field will amplify the electrolytes in your fuel cells and create an effect similar to absorbing biotic nano-repair paste. Healing would be near instantaneous," Robert explained.

"Additionally, the pulses given by the field will remove dirt and other contaminants from your being," Rosalind added.

From what he could understand from the twins' explanation, this infusion basically let his body generate its own energy field that acted like a self-repair unit whenever he gets hit minus the nano-repair cache so there won't be any dead weight once it was expended. It also instantly cleans his clothes, which was a really good thing since his wife would kill him if he ruined another nice suit.

He noticed that Rosalind was looking at him expectantly before downing the concoction. He then braced himself for the shock that they warned him about but he felt nothing.

…

"Huh, I thought it would at least- GRRAAAAHH!" he was about to comment on the lack of reaction when he felt a powerful jolt shot through his system. His back arched back as yellow electricity surged out of his body. His pain inhibitors didn't seem to work when he tried to eliminate the agony that he was going through. He dropped down to one knee as the surge of energy ended.

The twins watched unresponsively, waiting for a response from the kneeling cyborg as he groaned in soreness.

"Hmm, interesting," Rosalind said as Raiden slowly stood back up.

"Surprised that it worked?" Robert inquired from his sister.

"Surprised that it elicited such a reaction," Rosalind replied.

"How do I know if this stuff works?" Raiden asked for he sensed no differences to his body despite the result earlier.

"Any injuries that you sustained would heal in a matter of minutes and won't even leave a mark behind," Rosalind explained.

"However, your field is weak and can only heal a few wounds at a time before having to recharge," Robert supplied, "There are other infusions scattered throughout Columbia, finding and consuming them will make your field stronger and be able to heal more wounds."

"I see," Raiden nodded as his Solid Eye covered his left eye like an eye-patch. He could see a yellow gauge right below his fuel cells gauge, showing him how much damages could be fixed before it was drained.

(AN: Imagine that Raiden's "shield" has a capacity of 100%. It would take three times the number missing to bring his HP back to 100%. Like say his HP is at 75%, it would take 75% from his shield to restore the 25% that he lost. He also won't be able to heal and recharge the shield while he's taking damage.)

"Thanks for the help," he said as he left through a storage area, leaving them while they went back to doing tedious tasks for whatever unknown reason.

He then found himself on a large terrace that faced other floating islands not too far away.

He could see that there was no bridge or something similar to connect the clusters at all. The next island wasn't too far for him to jump so he expanded the muscle areas in his legs and jumped across to the next island. He repeated the action as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop until the next island was too far away to jump. His Solid Eye displayed HUDs on a couple of large hooks on the building across from him.

Deciding to put his Sky-Hook to good use, the cyborg slipped it on to his left arm and aimed the hooks at the lift hook ahead, squeezing the trigger. He was then jerked off his feet and flew through the air for a few moments before the Sky-Hook attached itself to the lift hook that he had been aiming at.

"This is actually pretty fun," he said to himself as he repeated the motion to get to the next building.

He avoided the rooftops with soldiers since he caused enough casualties already. Sticking to the rooftops and stealthily eliminating any threats, he pressed on without being detected.

Against major belief of most of his comrades from Maverick, Raiden was fully capable of completing a mission without being discovered. He had done it before but after being able to slaughter everyone that saw him efficiently, he had forgone stealth tactics for a time. The Ripper already had his turn in carrying out the mission and now it was time for subtlety.

After hearing the sound of airships flying overhead, he needed to get indoors for he was too exposed. He paused in his tracks when he eyed an empty crate.

A smirk crawled its way on the cyborg's face as a plan formed in his mind.

00000

A couple of soldiers moved in and around various stands and vending machines that were set up in a courtyard. At the end of the courtyard was metal gate with a symbol of an eye on the arch above.

"Any sign of him?" a soldier asked to his comrades.

"No. The False Prophet's one slippery bastard," another soldier commented.

The group of soldiers then heard the sound of a small explosion around the corner.

"There! It must be him!" one of the militias called out before they ran off to the source of the explosion.

In their haste, none of them noticed a wooden crate approaching the gate and sneaking inside. One would usually find it very peculiar for a crate to move like it had a mind of its own. But this particular crate was no ordinary crate due to a certain cyborg ninja that was hiding inside it.

Hiding in a crate or a box was a trick that Solid Snake showed him once. At the start, he questioned how hiding in a cardboard box would help you infiltrate an enemy base with extremely tight security. But having fought alongside the legend and seeing him in action, the former child-soldier figured he could give it a shot.

Surprisingly, it was very successful and proved to be of use like right now for example.

He still had some grenades with him so he used one of them as a distraction for him to get past enemy lines.

Once he made sure that there were no enemies in sight, he took the crate off him as he turned to face the mansion before him. A murder of crows scattered in every directions upon his arrival. He approached a statue that portrayed Comstock fighting a giant snake with the inscription: "Comstock Fights the Serpent of Nations".

Not having a good opinion on this so-called prophet, Raiden brought the HF Murasama blade down, slicing the statue in half and permanently defacing it.

He looked up from the rubble of the statue and saw a larger version of the eye-symbol that he saw beforehand on the gate. The place gave him a bad feeling but he had no other options and he needed to reach the girl fast so opened the front door of the estate and went inside.

As he stood in the center of the entrance room of the mansion that belonged to the "Fraternal Order of the Raven", Raiden had a feeling that his presence was entirely unwelcomed. He could see rancid food sitting in bowls and a whole lot of bird shit all over the room. It looked like that a large murder of crows had made this mansion their home.

He was sure glad that he disabled his sense of smell because the stench of rotten food and shit could disorient him.

The cyborg crossed the dirty marble floor and into the lobby of the building where a statue was set in the middle of the room with a flight of stairs behind it. Raiden felt anger and disgust as he looked at the monument.

It was a large-scale replica of John Wilkes Booth, Flintlock pistol held in his outstretched hand as if taking aim at the president that he had assassinated.

This didn't come as a big shock to him since Abraham Lincoln was renowned for abolishing the slave trade system, which was completely comprised of people of different ethnicity. So no wonder why these people respected the man who killed President Lincoln. But that doesn't mean Raiden does.

Just like what he did with the statue of Comstock, the cyborg ninja brought his sword down on the statue, cleaving it through diagonally. Since it wasn't a straight cut, the top part slid off and fell onto the floor where it broke into pieces. Crows cawed violently the nests at the statue's feet were disturbed.

Three men burst into the foyer armed with guns, alerted by the crows and the sound of the statue breaking. They perked up as they noticed the cyborg standing before the demolished sculpture.

They just stared at him for a few seconds, not making a move as though they were trying to make sense of the situation.

"Knock, knock," Raiden said as he knocked on what was left of the statue with his left hand thus breaking the ice.

"You will pay for desecrating this sacred monument of our beloved hero, Booth!" one of the men yelled at him as they began to fire at him.

He dashed toward them and took them all down at the same time with one swing of his blade.

After looting the bodies for cash so he could buy Salts for his fuel cells, Raiden went to check every room on the ground floor of the mansion while covertly taking out any hostiles. He then double backed to the foyer and went up the stairs behind the damaged Booth statue to the next floor. He went through the double doors and down the hallway when he heard someone talking.

Stepping into a wide room, Raiden looked down from the railing and saw that he was currently standing on the second floor of what looked like a church. Pews lined the floor in front of a stage set up in front of another fresco of Comstock as a man in robes that resembled a bird preached to others dressed in the same way about Comstock's exploits like it was some sort of biblical text.

The cyborg ninja saw that the only way forward was through a door at the back of the room on the ground floor. Taking out a Red Phosphorous grenade, he lobbed the non-lethal explosive at the very center of the gathered people. Attaching his Sky-Hook to his left arm and wielding the HF Murasama blade in his right hand, he then jumped down from the railing and used both melee weapons to kill two of the robed men from above as the RP grenade released a cloud of Infrared-blocking smoke.

The worshippers didn't know what hit them and they barely had enough time to bring out their array of weapons before they were either cut to pieces by a red sword or brutally executed by a Sky-Hook.

By the time that the smoke dispersed, the floor was strewn with the lifeless bodies of the worshippers, as Raiden stood tall in the middle of them with HF Murasama blade and Sky-Hook in his hands.

The cyborg put a hand up to a cut on his cheek that one of the men was able to land on him before he ended his life. It wasn't a small cut but it wasn't life threatening at the same time. He then literally felt the cut on his face slowly close until it was no more than a mere memory.

He waited for the yellow gauge to fill up again as he headed to the altar that was set up at the stage. His Solid Eye showed him that a bottle of infusion sitting behind a stack of old books, standing out in the dimly lit room.

"_Well, this is convenient,"_ he thought as he picked up the formula and gulped it down without a moment of hesitation. Running a systems diagnostic, he saw that the yellow meter increased in length.

Making his way out of the church-room and through an office, Raiden stepped into an elevator and carefully hit the switch for he had to be mindful or he will have to cut a hole in the wall to get out of here. He rode the lift up to another floor and continued on his route. He took a few cautious steps forward with his hand hovering over the sheathed katana at his waist, ready to take it out at a moment's notice, as he approached another set of doors.

"Why you do this!?" he heard someone say with a Chinese accent on the other side, "I just want to go back to my family!"

At these words, Raiden rushed forward and kicked the door right off its hinges to find a man of Asian descent strung up on a vertical table, struggling to break free as a look of absolute horror covered his face.

"Nooo! No!" he screamed in fear as a murder of crows appeared out of thin air and began to attack him.

Animal cruelty be damned! These birds were ripping this man apart so he allowed the energy in his fuel cells to greatly boost his reflexes.

The apparent passage of time slowed down as he entered Blade Mode. With super fast and high precision cuts, he killed a good number of the birds of prey and made them dissipate into the air.

At the front of the room, a man wearing a black hood and cloak with a small coffin strapped to his back turned around to face a large opening before seemingly vanishing in a swirl of feathers.

Sheathing his weapon, the cyborg rushed over to the wounded man and untied him. The man had slashes all over his body but he might still be able to save him if he could stop the bleeding.

"Stay with me, alright!" Raiden said as he gently placed the prisoner on the floor. The man gasped looked up at him, gasping with every breath for his wounds made it too difficult for him to breath, "Your family's waiting for you so I need you to stay alive!"

At the mention of his family, the captive was able to cling unto life long enough for Raiden to find a nearby Medi-kit and pull out a small vial of red liquid with a red cross stamped on the front. From the label, it should help the man heal so he poured it down the man's throat and watched as the health vial patch up the man's wounds.

It didn't completely heal him but he'll live.

"Wh-who are you?" the prisoner weakly queried as he gazed at the cyborg with eyes full of reverie.

"A friend," Raiden told him as he brought his sword out and trailed inside after the man with the black cloak earlier with the intent on paying him back for what he did to the prisoner.

The room was long with high-glassed ceilings and trees covering the walls and floors like a forest. Large cages hung from a couple of branches that squeaked back and forth on their chains.

When he was halfway in, a murder of crows came down from the ceiling. They began joining together and formed the shape of the man that he had seen from before. Raiden wasted no time dashing at the cloak figure with sword ready to strike him down only for his foe to disappear into a puff of feathers.

Raiden didn't have to wait long as the figure reappeared behind him. He swiftly turned around to face the enemy as he brought his sword up, successfully blocking an overhead strike from the cloaked figure's sword.

A quick scan on the blade revealed that the sword wasn't a high-frequency blade but was made of some sort of metallic alloy of unknown origin and could withstand clashing with a high-frequency blade.

The cyborg pushed back his opponent with a mighty heave of his sword, causing the cloaked man to stumble. Seizing the chance, he swung his blade at his enemy's waist. Instead of cleaving through flesh and bone, the blade sliced through more crows as the man pulled another Houdini.

Once again, the cloaked figure reappeared and swung his sword at the cyborg in an attempt to take him off guard. The cyborg bent his head backwards as the blade scraped his chin, making sparks fly on contact.

He retaliated with a quick thrust of his katana at the cloaked figure's head only for him to impale a bird in its place. The whole disappearing act was really starting to lose its novelty.

He snatched a bottle of Salts from the ground with his left hand. Since he didn't have enough time to drink it, he broke the bottle in his group, absorbing the contents through his hand due to it having similar qualities to electrolytes.

After having his fuel cells replenished, he gripped the katana with both hands and patiently waited for the crow bastard to appear again. When he reappeared, the cloaked figure charged at the cyborg with a murder of crows surrounding him as he closed the distance fast.

The moment that he was within reach of the cyborg ninja's blade, the Zealot of the Lady suddenly found himself without arms or legs. The Crow fell onto the ground, limbless and quickly bleeding out. He lifted his head up to glare at the cyborg from under his hood. The last thing that the cultist saw was a crimson blade heading for his face.

"_Now that's taken care of,"_ he thought as he took out a bottle of Salts from the dead man's cloak and drank it, refilling his spent fuel cells. The door at the back of the room burst open as three soldiers came into the room.

"It's the False Shepard! Get him!" one of the shouted as they prepared to fire.

As Raiden was about to sprint forward at them, bullets peppered the three men, splattering their blood across the room. The cyborg turned around to see the Chinese man that he saved wielding a machine gun in his arms as he wheezed loudly.

"Thanks," Raiden said to him. The injured man feebly gave him a smile in response before collapsing. The cyborg caught him before his body hit the ground.

Slinging the Chinese man over his shoulder, Raiden made his way out of the room, toward the back of the mansion, back out into the sunlight.

"The False Shepard, this anarchist, is either a mulatto dwarf or a French man with a missing left eye. No more than four feet and nine inches," he heard an announcement about his descriptions over a gunship's PA system.

"Idiots," Raiden muttered as he set the man down on the ground and gave him another health vial.

Raiden never knew his real parents so for all he knew, it's highly possible that he had one black and one white parent, considering that he was from an African country. He understood why people thought that he had a missing left eye since the Solid Eye looked like an eye-patch. But why the hell would they think that he was French? Sure, he knew how to speak French but he didn't even utter a single word in French while he was here.

He heard a groan from the Chinese man as most of his injuries healed.

"Are you alright?" he inquired as the man sat up.

"You save my life!" the man said as he gazed at Raiden in awe, "I don't know how to thank you."

"You can thank me by getting back to your family," the cyborg told him, "You think you can make it on your own?"

The man hesitated for a while before nodding his head in determination.

"That's all I needed to hear," he said as he took out his Sky-Hook and leapt from the balcony, latching onto a lift hook on the building ahead. He could see a gondola station that could take him closer to Monument Island. He leapt his way from hook to hook as he flew through the air toward the front steps of the station.

He then smashed the revolving tip of the Sky-Hook against an unwary soldier's head as he landed on the ground. He picked up the pistol of the man that he just killed and fired a round that drilled through the skull of another soldier on a landing at the top of a set of stairs. After clearing the area of enemies, he dropped the pistol and made his way up.

It turned out that Comstock's army had locked down the entire station. They knew that he was heading their way and they had been ready for him when he entered the station.

The resulting battle was a long one. The soldiers had managed to injure Raiden a couple of times, nothing serious though.

Eventually, he put an end to the gunfire and Vigors that were sent his way by killing all of the soldiers.

He took a moment to rest and used it to reflect on what he knew.

The people here somehow knew that he was coming before he even knew that this place existed. They called him the False Prophet who had come to lead their Lamb astray. He already concluded that Elizabeth was the Lamb after noticing a poster about a tower protecting the Lamb from the False Prophet. The only eye-catching tower that he could see was the one on Monument Island.

As for how they knew about his arrival before he did, they must've had a way to predict his coming to the city with some time machine or something. If the Lutece twins managed to travel to the future and send him back to the past, they must not be the only ones who had a power similar to this.

Running a hand through his ash-grey blonde hair, Raiden started pacing. His mind just couldn't wrap around this new piece of information. He was still missing something critical to the mission. Alas, the only way for him to find out was to get to the tower and rescue the girl.

Before going to the exit, he drank a small phial of Salts while waiting for his magnetic field to repair him.

Heading back outside, he saw a gondola and let out a sigh of relief as he jogged down the stairs toward it only to stop when he noticed the out of order sign that dangled from the controls.

"Dammit, gotta find another way now," he said to himself as he looked up at the railway system that was networked around the whole city. The rails stretched off into the same direction Monument Island, meaning that it was the only way to get there.

He jumped up onto the railing and launched himself upward as he brought out his Sky-Hook. He attached his device to the rail and began zipping off down the tracks.

Wind whipped past him as he adjusted the speed on the Sky-Hook enough so he still get a clear view on his surroundings.

Seeing a supply crate blocking the rest of the skyway, Raiden unsheathed his katana and sliced through the fasteners that kept it aloft, causing it to drop down and clear the Sky-Lines. He could see that Monument Island was getting closer and closer with each passing second.

He saw a bunch of crates that were stacked up, blocking the path again. Increasing the speed of rotation of the Sky-Hook to build up momentum, he kicked the crates down with both of his feet, clearing the railway again. Reaching the end of the rails in a few minutes, he dropped down to the balcony of a building that was close to the monument.

He wasn't surprised when he came face to face with the welcoming committee. Standing in front of him were two-dozen soldiers, weapons trained on Raiden while some had Vigors manifesting in their other hand.

He simply turned to face them with his HF blade out. It would take more than two-dozen men armed with guns and superpowers to kill this cyborg ninja.

"Enough! Stand down!" boomed a loud and powerful voice over the building's PA system.

Every Soldier dropped their weapons to the ground before kneeling down and beginning to pray.

Raiden kept his sword out and stepped through the assembly of praying soldiers and into the building. More soldiers were lined up on either side of the dark room, leading toward a lift at the back.

Stepping onto the elevator, the wall in front sprang to life as a black and white projection started playing, revealing the face of Zachary Comstock.

Glaring at the projection with eyes glowing crimson, Raiden pulled the lever in front of him, causing the lift to rise.

"I know why you've come, False Shepard," Comstock said, "You have come from the Sodom below to lead my Lamb astray but thy crook is bent and thy path is twisted."

The cyborg rested the katana against his shoulder as he scowled at the man in charge of the city.

"I choose my own path whether it's twisted or not," he said evenly, "And if giving your Lamb a taste of freedom is to lead her astray, then I'll gladly accept the name: False Shepard."

"Just as I expected from _Jack the Ripper_," the Prophet said, making Raiden tensed, "You are an agent of chaos, sent here by the Sodom below to take what they desired the most: my Lamb. Your mission to take what I have already liberated will prove your folly."

"Liberated?" the cyborg growled, grip tightening on the HF Murasama blade, "You call stealing a child from her family "liberating"!? Tell me where you stole Elizabeth from!"

"Don't pretend that you don't already know," Comstock said, "The avarice possessed by your masters knows no limits. Their gluttonous need to obtain what is not theirs will be their downfall for my Lamb will rain fire down upon the Sodom below from the heavens!"

"I am my own master. And your _Lamb_ doesn't belong to you either. She's a human being, not some tool to be used to satisfy your own greed, you son of a bitch!"

"My own _greed_!" Comstock exclaimed in outrage, "I seek to rain the fires of retribution down on the wretched Sodom below not for my sake but for the sake of our once great nation!"

"Typical politician," he scoffed, "Can't even see how far down you've fallen and you think that you can justify your actions with a supposed noble goal. I guess there's not much difference with how governments work in the twenty-first century."

"I see now…it makes sense. The way you speak, the way you carry yourself. You survived our reap and your confusion about this city is very believable. You are not from this point in time," he said as he stroked his beard.

"I'm from the year 2018."

"I see… what has become of the Sodom below in the last century?" asked the Prophet.

"Like I'll give you the chance to alter the course of history," Raiden said. Sharing the knowledge of future events before they even happen to a man like Comstock won't end well. The man would surely exploit the knowledge for his own selfish goals so there was no way that the cyborg will hand it over to him.

"From your actions and words alone, I can tell that the Founder's great nation has truly fallen from its prime. The Sodom below will burn much faster than we first believed," Comstock shook his head as the projection shut off. The lift stopped at the top floor, allowing him off.

"Return to the Sodom below, Jack the Ripper!" the Prophet said as the projection screen pulled away from the building, revealing that it had been an airship, as the cyborg sprinted along the hallways of the building to where his Solid Eye told him where the exit was.

Rounding a corner, he was thrown back when an explosive blast blew a portion of a wall away.

"Go back!" Comstock's voice boomed as Raiden got back to his feet and saw the airship that had fired on the building.

Acting on reflex, the cyborg leapt through the hole in the wall. He dug his claw-like nails unto the edge of the airship and then pulled himself up.

A door on the outside of the ship was kicked open and three soldiers ran out onto the deck with guns blazing as they tried to shoot down the cyborg and get him off the ship.

With his superior capabilities, Raiden deflected the gunshots and bisected each of the three soldiers. Hoping to take the former Maverick agent down quickly, a fourth soldier ran out of the open doorway where the others came from with a heavy club. But he didn't even spare him a second glance as he slashed the man's head off.

With the deck now cleared, the Solid Eye showed him that one last soldier was waiting for him inside. He stabbed through the wall that the man was leaning on from the other side and effectively severed his spine before entering the ship's interior and into the cockpit.

One of the things that he noticed right away was the small altar devoted to Comstock with lit candles all over it. The second thing that he noticed was the woman in all white, praying in front of the altar.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Raiden said to her as he headed over to the controls of the aircraft. The woman gave no indication that she heard him or not.

The cyborg sheathed his sword and looked over the controls carefully. He knew how to drive an assortment of vehicles due to his countless VR trainings and had a ton of experience with numerous modes of transportation so steering the old zeppelin was nothing compared to piloting a Metal Gear.

The zeppelin started to make a turn when another airship sprang up in front of it. Comstock stood on the deck with three soldiers kneeling down around him. The old man and the cyborg locked gazes as he spoke into a microphone.

"The Lord forgives everything," he said with his voice projected through the ship's PA system, "However, I am just a prophet…so I don't have to."

"Amen," the self-proclaimed prophet muttered as the ship began to float away.

"Amen," repeated a feminine voice behind him. Raiden quickly turned around and saw the woman holding lit candle above her head. His Solid Eye alerted him to the presence of gasoline all over the place when he realized what was about to happen.

"Don't do it!" he screamed and reached out to stop the woman from dropping the candle. But even with all of his cybernetic implants, he was too late to stop her from setting herself and a large portion of the ship on fire at the same time.

"GODDAMNIT!" he cried out as he ran for the exit, ignoring the flames even when they began to grow in intensity.

He crashed through the wall of the airship, making his own exit for all the other ones were sealed off from the blaze.

Looking down, he saw a Sky-Line passing underneath him. He took out his Sky-Hook and aimed it at the Sky-Line as he was free falling. He snagged onto one of the rails and zipped away from the scene of the zeppelin falling into the clouds and out of sight.

"_That woman didn't have to needlessly die like that,"_ he snarled at the thought. The woman had killed herself in an attempt to kill him, the "False Prophet". She would still be alive if never listened to Comstock's lies. The cyborg swore that he would rip Comstock's heart out if they ever come face to face again.

Fortunately, this portion of the skyway lead right to Monument Island, which had been an immense relief as he dropped down onto the stone walkway that lead inside.

Raiden took a glance at the falling ship as it finally exploded. Shaking his head, he went up the stairs and went past the barricades that were set up to keep people out.

"Now let's get you out of here," he said out loud.

00000

Raiden found himself in front of a large locked gate. He looked at it for a few seconds before cutting an opening for him to go through. Sheathing the HF blade, the cyborg walked up the steps before him and up to the gigantic double doors that led into the tower.

He opened the doors and examined the empty foyer. A small-scaled version of the tower sat in the center of the room with crates stacked up on one side and a wall of lockers on the other side.

Doing a swift scan, the cyborg found mostly lab coats, rubber boots, gloves, gasmasks, and a handful of personal belongings that were stored in the lockers. The whole place was empty and from what it looked like, everyone here had been forced to leave in a rush.

Did they have everyone here evacuated once they knew that he was coming? No, that can't be the case or they would have brought the girl with them and his Solid Eye evidently told him that there was only one other person in the tower.

Setting that aside for now, the cyborg crossed the room and through another set of doors that lead farther inside. He walked down a long corridor until he was in a room filled with several electronic devices, chalkboards, and other data records on the walls.

The board in front of him had data on four stages of a person's growth like the height, weight, and brain activity of each stage.

The psychopath within him snarled at the display. _"They're treating her like some test subject!"_

In the next half of the room behind the records, a large station was set up with electrical bolts coming out of the walls and striking tesla coils at the top. Three lit levers sat in the front, sparking the cyborg's curiosity. But he decided to keep going since he other important matters that he should be doing such as rescuing a certain girl from this tower.

He went into another corridor that had several rooms on either side. Entering to each room, rage almost consumed the cyborg's very being as he looked around.

There were lab equipment, surgical instruments, chairs and beds with restraints, along with more records on the walls, keeping logs on what progress was made with the subject.

Raiden wasted no time in destroying anything like this that he could find. He started wrecking the torture chamber first. Next was the developing studio for film. Then finally, he demolished the projection room.

After taking his anger out on the three rooms, he went into the next room, which was lit up like a power plant. Electricity surged through the air and centered on a large device in the middle of the room. There several signs set up around the room that said that this…siphon was dangerous while it was leeching the specimen. The cyborg was sorely tempted to destroy this machine but he feared that he could accidently kill himself in the process with all the electricity being emitted from it.

He moved through the chamber, passing by signs that mentioned something about this place being quarantined for a week and not to touch the specimen. He entered an elevator and pressed his palm on the switch, making the lift ascend.

He took a second to notice that the glove covering his right hand was torn badly. It was torn so badly that it couldn't hide his cybernetic hand properly. It must have ended up like this during one of the confrontation and he had failed to notice it till now. He then decided to tear it off all the way. He could always pass his hands off as some kind of armored gloves.

The elevator dinged as the doors opened up to a clean room with black and white tiled floors, a metal shutter and a lever in front of the shutter.

Raiden approached the shutter and pulled the lever, causing the metal wall to slide apart to show an elegant empty bedroom.

Looking down the hall next to him, the cyborg moved to where a panel on the wall was set up. It seemed to be some sort of device that kept track of the girl's current location.

"She's in the dressing room," he said out loud as the panel showed the girl's position and a steel door next to him slid up into the ceiling, allowing him passageway.

Moving along the wooden pathway, he arrived at the following section where the girl was being kept and found another shutter with a camera beside it.

"_Those bastards,"_ he thought with clenched fists as he pulled the lever in front of him, leaving an impression of his hand on it.

The shutter slid open to reveal a young woman standing right in front of him. She stood almost a head shorter than him with dark brown hair tied back. She wore a long-sleeved white blouse with blue cuffs and collar. She also had a blue ascot tied loosely around her neck and a long blue skirt.

Her light blue eyes looked right at him but didn't seem to notice him. This meant that this glass was most likely a one-way mirror.

The girl seemed to be singing with a picture of the Eiffel tower clenched in her hands. His cybernetic optics trailed down when he saw something shine and noted that she was missing half of her right pinky finger. A silver thimble covered the slight deformity.

"_Why does she seem so…familiar?"_ he thought as Elizabeth skipped out of the room. The shutter closed not long after, interrupting the cyborg as he tried to figure out why he felt that he knew the girl from somewhere.

"_Need to stay focused on the mission,"_ he prompted himself as he moved down the adjacent hallway to another locator panel, which said that she was now in the dining room.

He followed the open path to the next observation room. He opened the shutter to find Elizabeth eyeing a painting of the Eiffel tower that she must have made herself. He had to admit that it was a fine work art.

She then reached forward with both hands, looking like she was going to rip the canvas in half. Something started to happen; a small sliver of light began to brighten in the room. Whatever she was doing made Raiden's Solid Eye flash him several warnings. It detected a strange energy signature of unknown nature.

Elizabeth threw her arms out. Everything in the was sent flying and the reinforced glass cracked around the edges as a portal was ripped open, showing the outside of a movie theater with the Eiffel tower in the distance.

The cyborg's jaw dropped down so hard that it felt like it almost detached itself and fell off.

"What the…" he said in wonder.

What the portal was showing was all gravelly like a TV with bad reception. The girl gazed at what was being shown in awe before a pair of headlights from a fire truck came speeding towards her.

Before the large automobile could hit her, she brought her arms together, sealing the portal. Putting her head in her hands, Elizabeth ran from the dining room as the shutter closed.

"_She…she just ripped opened a hole in the air!" _Raiden mentally shouted as he tried to make sense of what he saw earlier, _"And to Paris!"_

Then the details settled in. It was a fire truck that scared her into closing the portal and vehicles that ran on fuel shouldn't even exist in this time period. So not only did she create a doorway to Paris, she was able to bridge from here in 1912 to the future. As to how far in the future, he wasn't entirely sure. He didn't get a good look at the portal since he had to shut off his Solid Eye to prevent it from overloading on the readings that it got from the portal.

But it did make sense though. If this girl could produce holes through space and time, then it certainly explained how the Lutece twins transported him here. Right now, the girl was the key to getting him back home.

"This is going looong day," he sighed as he went through the door on his left and followed the next section of the path around the observation room and up a ramp to the next viewing room.

The shutter opened, revealing a grand library. The walls were covered with bookshelves that were filled to the brim with hardbound books. The main floor had a couple of comfortable chairs and desks set up with writing equipment. It gave the impression that this was where she studied.

Elizabeth stood on a landing at the top of a flight of stairs as she stared out the window before her at the beautiful sky beyond. Her right hand rested on the glass as she watched the clouds pass her by.

Activating the camouflage on his katana, he pledged that he would get her out of this place and take her far away from this godforsaken city. He wouldn't mind introducing the Ripper to anyone who tried to get in his path.

He turned to the next door and pushed it open with relative ease even though it was a pretty thick iron door. It opened up to a long corridor to another door.

Twisting the metal wheel, he almost ripped the door off its hinges as it opened up to the outside of the tower. The wind whipped hard against him as he saw almost all of Columbia from his vantage point.

He was quite positively sure that a fall from here would definitely kill him even with his extremely durable cybernetic body.

He walked up a set of steps slowly toward the head of the angel. Reaching the angel's cheek, Raiden pushed another door opened and slipped inside while gently closing it behind him to keep the wind out. The inside of the head of the giant monument looked exactly the same as the rest of the tower. The door in front of him slid up, allowing him to move on.

The next room led to another door that was across a metal platform supported by chains. The cyborg's dress shoes echoed around the round room with each step. He paused halfway when he heard a loud groan coming from somewhere very close.

He may not be a mechanic but even he knew that kind of noise was never a good thing. He felt the surface under him begin to tremble. The chains then broke and the ground collapsed from under him, sending the cyborg plummeting down.

Being a cyborg ninja, he immediately righted himself up in midair as he fell. He lashed his arm out and grabbed onto a railing. He began to pull himself up onto the landing only to meet a pair of startled blue eyes.

"_Well this is awkward,"_ he thought. He wasn't sure how to proceed from a situation like this.

Elizabeth screamed, making him let go of the railing by accident and fall the rest of the way to the floor. He flipped his body back at the last second, allowing him to land on the balls of his feet as gracefully as a cat.

He tilted his head upwards to look at the girl only for a book to slam right on his face. If he wasn't a cyborg, that would have broken his nose.

Elizabeth hurled book after book at him. The books would have no effect on him but he ducked under the bulky projectiles anyway due to reflexes. He made a career out of dodging bullets so evading a bunch of hardcovers won't be a problem.

"I'm not here to hurt you!" he said to her as he sidestepped another book.

The young woman crossed the room with a pretty big book on Quantum Physics clenched tightly in her hands, ready to bring it down on his head.

"Who are you!?" she demanded, looking a bit fearful of him.

"My name is Raiden. I'm a friend and I'm here to get you out of here," he said as he raised his hands up as a sign of peace.

"Get away!" she shouted as she pulled herself back and prepared to swing her makeshift weapon. It took Raiden a second to remember that his hands weren't hidden so the girl got a good look of the cybernetic hands with claw-like nails. She didn't take it very well.

Raiden brought up his right arm and snatched the book from her grasp with it.

"Look! I'm not going to hurt you, I promise," the cyborg said as he tried to calm her down.

Elizabeth looked at the book in his metallic hand before looking into his eyes, seeing the sincerity of his words. Her eyes were filled with innocence, fear and curiosity like she was looking at a new kind of specimen. Considering that there was no one else in this tower and the fact that he was a cyborg ninja from the twenty-first century, it was probably true.

"Are you…are you real?" she asked with a tremble in her voice as she reached her hand out to him, her slim fingers lightly touching the side of his face.

"As real as it gets," he told her as he gently pushed her hand away from his face. He was slightly uncomfortable with the sudden invasion of personal space.

The gold statue of some man with a beard that had been next to them began to let out a whistling tune. Elizabeth looked downright terrified as she turned to Raiden who immediately went placed a hand on the still invisible HF Murasama blade.

"He's coming! Y-you have to go!" she whispered frantically as she tried to push him back but failed due to the cyborg keeping a firm stance and being too heavy for her to push.

The Solid Eye slid over his left eye, startling the girl at its appearance. His eyes widened as he saw something approaching the tower fast. Something _big_.

"You have to leave now! Go! Before he arrives," she said to him as she recovered from seeing the Solid Eye. A loud clank-like whistling sound resounded through the whole tower, making her look up.

"Just a minute! I'm getting dressed!" she shouted at the ceiling where Raiden could see the unknown possible hostile.

He could just fight whatever had her worked up. He faced worse odds before and from what he could see, it was smaller in size compared to a Metal Gear Ray. But he couldn't afford a large-scale battle for the girl might get caught in the crossfire.

"We need to get out of here," he said as Elizabeth scrambled around the room in panic, trying to find a place to hide him.

"There's no way out, trust me. I've looked."

The sound boomed again, making her jump.

"STOP IT! YOU'RE TOO IMPATIENT. THAT'S ENOUGH!" she shouted at the ceiling again or to be more precise, whatever was coming.

Raiden saw a door on the other end of the library behind her. It was built almost like a vault door to prevent anyone from getting through it.

"What about that door over there?" he asked as he walked toward it.

"It's locked, always has been. And I don't know where the key would be," Elizabeth said as she continued to find a place to hide him.

"Key?" he said as he reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out the key that had been given to him back at the lighthouse. He saw the same symbols on the top and bottom of the lock that were on the handle of the door. He inserted the key into the lock and undid the locks on the door as he twisted it.

Elizabeth spun to face him as he swung the thick metal door open with virtual ease. She stood frozen for a moment, almost unbelieving at the fact that her freedom was within her grasp.

"You were saying?" he smirked playfully as he twirled the key between his fingers.

She took a small step forward before bolting through the opening and running past the cyborg.

Shaking his head and grinning at the girl's eagerness, Raiden followed after her. They ran down the stairs on the other side when the walls around them shook viciously almost something had struck the tower. The cyborg quickly caught up with Elizabeth as they reached the bottom when the tower quaked again.

"It's his job to keep me locked up in here!" she said before he could ask.

"And it's _my_ job to get you out of here!" he called back as they began to backtrack on the path that he went through to reach her. The monument kept shaking, "Let's see which one of us succeeds."

"Who exactly are you? Why did you come here?" Elizabeth asked him as they ran.

"Later!" he replied as the tower shook again. They circumnavigated another corner when an impact nearly sent Raiden sprawling to the ground. The metal wall of the monument ahead of him was carved into by a set of enormous talons. He saw a familiar energy frequency running across each talon, much like an HF blade. That was not a good thing.

"Damn it!" he cursed as ran after Elizabeth. Another sizable cut was made into the tower, causing a support beam to collapse down onto the wooden walkway behind him.

After entering the next corridor, he slammed his hand over the button on the wall in haste, calling the elevator up yet accidentally breaking the button at the same time. He was worried that the elevator won't work anymore with the button broken but the sounds of it coming down eased his doubts.

As they waited for the lift to arrive, Elizabeth finally took notice of the one-way mirror, gasping in shock as she recognized the room beyond as her bedroom.

"What is all this?" she asked like he would know the answers, "They were watching me? All this time…why?"

"Why did they put me here? What am I? WHAT AM I!?" she cried out as she turned to face him with desperation and uncertainty in her eyes.

"You're just a girl imprisoned in a tower," Raiden told as he looked her in the eyes, "And I'm here to set you free. No matter what."

A gigantic fist suddenly punched through the door of the elevator, making Elizabeth stumble back until she was pressed against the far wall while making Raiden deactivate the camo on his sword. The hand withdrew and a enormous head raked into the room with glowing yellow-orange lens covered eyes.

The creature looked crudely bird-like in nature. It was covered in thick leather straps from head to toe with sharp talons on the end of its arms and feet. Each talon surged with electricity like a high-frequency blade. One of the eyes zeroed in on Raiden as it began to force its head into the door. Its talons tore into the walls and forced the opening to become wider.

Elizabeth screamed while Raiden quickly drew out the HF Murasama blade and stabbed it right into the creature's eye. A sludge-like substance poured out of the damaged eye like blood as it backed away and screeched in pain.

A ding resounded from the elevator call button, drawing everyone's attention in the room including the giant bird creature. Seconds later, the elevator dropped down from above, striking the creature hard enough to dislodge it and send it crashing down.

The cyborg highly doubted that an elevator crashing down on its head killed the creature. So they needed to keep going before it comes back.

Raiden sheathed his sword and unceremoniously scooped Elizabeth up and held her bridal style, earning a squeak of surprise from the girl.

"What are you-" she began to ask him but a quick "Hold on!" cut her off.

The cyborg leapt through the elevator shaft with the young woman in his arms and landed on the other side. He then dashed up the stairs while picking up speed with Ninja Run.

He already made it past several floors when the tower began shaking again, except this time much more violently than it had previously. Knowing that the creature just got back up, the cyborg doubled his pace up the steps.

"We have to hurry! He's going to tear the whole building apart!" she shouted in his ear.

"Can you please not shout in my ear, Elizabeth," he told her as he ran past a beam that crashed through the floor above. The girl looked at him in shock as he carried her.

"How do you know my name?" she asked as they reached the top. Not bothering to twist the wheel to open the door, Raiden kicked it down, sending it falling over the edge.

"Now's not the right time!" he said over the sound of the wind.

"Where do we go!?" she asked.

"Up!" Raiden shouted back as he carried her up the fenced path. The young woman was forced to wrap her arms around the cyborg's neck with the strong wind blowing as they ascended the tower.

The pair could make out a dark shadow of a being with bat-like wings through the clouds.

"He's not going to stop," she said so softly yet the cyborg heard her clearly.

"Neither am I," Raiden told her as they reached the top of the monument.

The tower was struck again; this time the structure couldn't withstand it anymore and began splitting in half. The cyborg was able to maintain his balance as he the ground beneath his feet started to break.

His Solid Eye showed him that a Sky-Line was nearby but he was too far out range for the Sky-Hook to latch onto it. Seeing no other way besides being crushed by debris, he jumped over the railing and into the open air with his charge screaming the whole way.

He adjusted his grip on her so he was now holding onto her waist with his right arm, leaving his other arm free to slip on the Sky-Hook. A warning from his Solid Eye caught his attention and showed him what he was up against.

Raiden briefly wondered if he pissed off a voodoo shaman or something during his childhood in Africa when he saw the creature.

Speaking of the creature, it was a lot bigger than he initially thought. It large wings extended back before folding inward as it dived after them.

He could feel the girl burrow her face into his neck, shaking in terror. He kept his eyes on the incoming and tried to ignore the giant bird-like monstrosity quickly closing the distance between them.

The girl's grip tightened on his torso as they were almost within arms reach of the creature. Raiden shot out his arm and activated the magnet of the Sky-Hook as he held Elizabeth's waist.

His charge nearly lost her grip on him but his arm still had a firm hold of her when the device latched onto the railway and sped off.

The creature disappeared behind the clouds as the once magnificent monument behind them crumbled.

Raiden increased the rotation of the Sky-Hook until it reached its maximum speed as they zipped along the Sky-Line. A zeppelin in the air ahead of them was suddenly destroyed as the creature appeared again. All the cyborg could do in his current position was to hold onto the girl as they flew through an opening in a bridge with the bird shadowing them.

The upper half of the monument fell away from the rest and one of the angel's wings collided with the bridge that they riding next to, destroying it and the Sky-Line that had been attached to it. The Sky-Hook reached the end of the rail and launched the cyborg and the young woman into the air.

Raiden changed their position so that Elizabeth was on top of him and his back was facing the ground as they fell. He looked over his shoulder and saw another island below them with a large body of water.

"Hold your breath!" the cyborg told her moments before they slammed into the water.

The two began to swim with all of their strength to get back to the surface. A familiar shaped shadow began to grow on the other side. Raiden had split second to push Elizabeth away from him and pull out his sword as a huge clawed hand shot into the water and tried to grab him. Emphasis on _tried_.

The cyborg slashed at the hand, batting it away from him; the same sludge-like substance from earlier mixed with the water. He saw the light of its undamaged eye so without hesitation, he pierced it with the crimson blade.

The monster backed off and shot back out of the water, not before smacking its fist at his side with strength that made Steven Armstrong's strength dwarf in comparison.

Raiden cried out into the water in agony but he managed to gather enough energy to make it to the shore before collapsing from exhaustion.

00000

_Raiden snapped his eyes opened. The cyborg found himself back in his office in Maverick headquarters._

"_Jack? Are you there Jack!?" he heard his wife's voice calling him from the other side of his door._

"_Rose?" he asked as he struggled to stand up from his chair. He was shocked to see Elizabeth leaning against the wall._

"_Save the girl…redeem yourself of your sins," she said in a low monotone voice like she wasn't entirely there, "You have no idea what you have gotten yourself into."_

_Raiden approached her yet the girl remained unresponsive._

"_Elizabeth? Why are you here? What's going on?" he asked as he grabbed her shoulders. She didn't even bother to look at him at all as the banging on his office door increased in volume._

"_I'll be with you in a minute!" he shouted at the person knocking before looking back at the girl only to find his hands hovering in the air where her shoulders had been._

"_What!? I could swear that she was right here," he said as he dropped his arms to his sides in puzzlement._

_He faced the door as heard another familiar voice._

"_Raiden!" the voices of the Luteces called out in unison from the other side of his door, "Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt!"_

"_What do you want with her!?" he demanded as he approached the door. He grabbed the knob and twisted it before pulling it open. A bright light consumed his vision and then everything went black again._

00000

His systems slowly began to reboot as everything came back clearer. He heard the sounds of waves lapping against sand close by. He then felt something pressing down onto his chest numerous times, which he figured was an attempt to revive him.

"I'm fine. No need for CPR," he said as his hand made a stop gesture.

"Are you sure, Raiden?" Elizabeth asked as she knelt in the sand beside him with a concerned look on her face.

"I've been through worse," he said as his eyes showed him bright red lettering from his Heads Up Display.

**SYSTEMS RESTORED. BEGINNING POWER-UP SEQUENCE**

It was going to take some time before he could properly move again for that hit sure did a number on him.

If he were in his Custom Cyborg body, then he wouldn't even be in this state. But his current cybernetic body was not on par with it so he suspected that a straight-on confrontation with the creature would surely be the end of him.

"Where am I?" he asked as he looked up to see the sun setting. The day was coming to a close.

"Back in the land of the living," she said as she smiled in relief. She grabbed his hand and went to help him up but he was too heavy for her to carry.

"Wait, let me rest for a bit," Raiden said, ceasing her attempts to lift him up.

"Oh, yes. I almost forgot. I found this washed up beside you," she said as she held the HF Murasama blade now sheathed in her hand, "I believe this is yours?"

"Not really."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's more of gift actually."

"I see," she said as she set the blade down beside him and within his reach. She then perked up when she heard something in the distance.

"Do you hear that?" she asked as she smiled brightly, "It's music!"

Despite the concoction that the Lucece twins gave him, Raiden was nowhere near prepared to move. Something could happen while he wasn't close by to protect her. He had made the same mistake with George by telling him to stay put instead of waiting for reinforcements to pick him up and look how well that turned out.

"I won't be long, Raiden!" she exclaimed. Before he could tell her to otherwise, she ran up the beach and out of sight.

"You got to be kidding me," he sighed as he lay back on the sand and stared up at the sky.

Sunny and George weren't this hard to keep under control. Sunny would barely even talk to him when they first met each other while George was so starstruck in meeting a "ninja" like Raiden. Both kids had an idea of the dangers that they were in while Elizabeth seemed so carefree and happy. It kind of reminded the cyborg of how Sunny was like after a couple of years.

They needed to get out of Columbia. Raiden wasn't sure if could protect Elizabeth while fighting off opposition. He had done bodyguard work before but not on a scale like this. The whole city was trying to kill him and now that the "Lamb" was with him, things were only going to get more difficult.

A few more minutes passed when the cyborg felt that he could stand again without his body failing him. He had to wait for the magnetic field to recharge more than once for it to completely repair him. It had taken longer for him to get back to his full capacity.

Fastening his katana to his belt and making it turn invisible, the cyborg hiked up the beach and after the girl. He passed by several rows of people lounging on towels or chairs as they enjoy the setting sun in the distance.

He reached the pier at the end of the beach and went down the pier in search of his charge. He heard the sound of music in the distance. Remembering where the girl was going, he followed the music down the dock to where he saw a bunch of couples dancing among themselves with a three men band providing the melody.

Elizabeth was dancing in the center of the group. Her long skirt was spinning along with her movements as a look of tranquility and joy filled her face. The cyborg ninja almost couldn't bring himself to pull her away from that but he knew that they were still in danger so he must do what needed to done.

She stopped dancing the moment she saw Raiden at the edge of the group and she approached the cyborg.

"Raiden! This is wonderful! Come dance with me!" she said as she grabbed his hands and tried to pull him forward.

"I don't dance," he said as he pulled his hands away, "And we should really get going, Elizabeth."

"Why? What could be better than this?" she asked with her arms stretched out to what was around them.

"For starters, not going back to that tower," he said straight to the point. This earned a frightful look from his charge's face so he decided to say something to ease her worries, "And what's the one place that you always dreamed of going?"

"P-Paris?"

"Sure, Paris." It wasn't what he was going for but if it gets her to follow him willingly then he was up for it. He could always take her to Paris _before _or _after_ they get to New Zealand first so he wasn't technically lying and the Lutece twins didn't specify when he should bring the girl to New Zealand.

"I don't understand…how could we even get there?" she asked, now very excited.

He already thought of how to get out of Columbia when he saw a large zeppelin with the image of a regal looking woman on the side flew by and docked close by.

"We can catch a ride on that zeppelin," he said as he pointed the airship out to her, "And that's why we need to get going."

"You're right! C'mon, let's go right now!" she shouted as she started to drag him back to the buildings by the pier. Seeing her enthusiasm, he allowed her to take the lead for a while.

Elizabeth kept looking at everything in amazement.

"I'm out…it's so hard to believe but it's true, isn't it?" she asked dreamily as she smelled the air, "Can you smell that? I've never smelled anything like that before, have you?"

"Plenty of times," he said, not really meaning it due to his smell receptors still being turned off.

"I haven't thanked you properly for rescuing me…for the longest time I thought I would never see the outside world beyond these walls. I started to lose hope," she admitted with her head down.

"Save your thanks for later," he said, "We're not out of the woods yet."

"It's an expression," he explained when he noticed the confused look on her face, "It means we aren't in a safe place yet."

"Oh."

The two of them passed through a turnstile as they entered the building ahead, which turned out to be a large gift shop filled with souvenirs all based around Comstock.

"Raiden," the cyborg heard Elizabeth call out to him as he was inspecting a pair of gloves that was on sale and looked exactly like his old ones. He turned to his charge and saw her looking at a large poster of Comstock in front of her.

"Comstock. I've read about him. They say that he can see the future," she said as she looked over the image, "I don't like his look."

"Do you dislike the look of the Prophet? Or his gaze?" the shop owner said intensely when he overheard what she said.

"It's not that. This poster looks a bit outdated. Don't you think that it needs a little more work? Give the people something better?" Raiden said to the man.

"You're right! I'll have to contact the ones that made the posters and have them make something better to display Father Comstock's greatness. Thank you for pointing it out," the man said.

"I'm interested in buying these gloves," the cyborg told the shop owner, "How much are they worth?"

"The gloves are worth twenty-five Silver Eagles, my good man! But for assisting me, I'll give you a special discount!"

The two slipped out of the store after purchasing the gloves, which the cyborg immediately wore to conceal his cybernetic hands.

"Why did you lie?" Elizabeth whispered when they were a safe distance away.

"I didn't really," he shrugged, "I do think that the poster was outdated and it does need a little improvement…such as replacing the image of Comstock with someone better."

They made their way down a row of booths. At the end stood were two people who still irritated the cyborg.

"Hello again, Mr. Jack," Rosalind said.

"Jack?" Elizabeth shot him a look of confusion when she heard the woman refer to him as 'Jack'.

"Can we assume that your journey has been enlightening, Mr. Lightning Bolt?" Robert asked.

"You can but you probably already knew that," Raiden said. The disdain that he had with them was so pronounced that the atmosphere became thick with tension.

"Raiden, do you know these people?" Elizabeth asked, as she was a little confused about the confrontation, "And why did they call you Jack and Mr. Lightning Bolt?"

"First off, yes, I do and their names are Robert and Rosalind Lutece," the cyborg stated, "As for why they called me those names, that's not really important."

"All pleasantries aside, we have a matter that needs to be handled," Rosalind said as she and her brother both pulled out red velvet pillows with jewelry boxes of the same size, shape and color sitting on them.

"A choice for the lady," her brother continued as they opened the boxes, revealing two identical pendants placed on silk chokers. The pendants bore the same symbols that had been on the key that helped them escape from the tower. One had the image of a cage while the other one had a image of a bird.

"Which will you choose?" Rosalind asked, "The bird?"

"Or the cage?" Robert finished.

"They both look so beautiful," she said as she picked up the two cases before turning to Raiden and showing them to him, "Which one do you think I should choose?"

Picking out jewelry for women wasn't a part of the cyborg's expertise. Sure, he may have picked out gifts for his wife but he had to ask for advice on what to get her from his colleagues.

The cage represents safety but also imprisonment, something that the cyborg was all too familiar with. It could also force Elizabeth to remember where she had been locked up for most of her life. On the other hand, the bird represented freedom and with only the sky being the limit to what was possible. But it would remind her of that giant bird monster, which was basically her warden.

"How about the bird," he said after coming to a decision.

"I expected the cage," Robert said as he and his twin bowed to them and left.

Raiden watched them go with narrowed eyes, never taking them off the twins even for a second.

"I love it!" Elizabeth said after fixing the silk choker in place, making the cyborg look away from the twins.

"How does it look?" she asked as she touched the pendant lightly.

It sat snugly against the center of her neck and suited her blithe personality rather well.

"Cute," he simply said, earning a light blush from the young woman that he failed to notice.

The good mood was interrupted when they heard people panicking. They saw everyone staring in horror at what was left of the monument tower as it came out of the clouds.

"My god…look," Elizabeth said in a low voice with her hands clasped in front of her.

"Are you alright?" Raiden asked softly.

"It was my home," she replied as more people started to gather around. Some of them were in tears while others were on their knees and in prayer from seeing the ruins of Monument Island.

"Come one, we shouldn't stay here for long," he said as he lead her out of the crown and into the nearby building, which had been the station, leading to the First Lady Airship.

But the way inside the station was barricaded by a police blockade. Anyone that wanted to get through had to be thoroughly examined before they were allowed to enter.

Raiden didn't want to have to fight his way through with the girl in tow so they went down a side hallway only to run into an obstacle in the form of a locked door.

The cyborg cursed from under his breath. He could easily break the door down but that would draw a lot of unwanted attention to them.

Elizabeth moved ahead as reached into her hair and pulled out a pin before tinkering with the lock. Raiden instantly realized that she was trying to pick the lock so turned around and used his body to block her from sight while she worked.

"Didn't take you for someone who knew how to pick locks?" he asked as she fiddled with the lock.

"I'm not surprised you know what I'm doing. You being a roguish type and all," she commented.

"Not going to argue with you there," he acknowledged before he heard a low clinking noise as the lock fell away from the door.

"Where did you even learn how to pick locks anyway?" he asked as they went through the opening and shut the doors behind.

"Well, being trapped in a tower with nothing but books and spare time to pick up a couple of hobbies. You'd be surprise with what I know how to do," the girl said as they went down the empty hallway.

"I know a girl who creates inventions that are literally out of this world in her free time," Raiden said, referring to Sunny and her job in designing space shuttles, "So try me."

They navigated the back hallways of the station. The cyborg and his young charge were trying to find a way that would help them get to the airship. When they turned another corner, Raiden saw two people that he never though he would see again. They were the same interracial couple that had been at the raffle when he had unleashed Jack the Ripper.

"Hey mister, we'd like to help you," said the African woman standing next to her husband.

"I remember you two," the cyborg said, nodding in recognition, "It's good to see you both made it out of there in one piece."

"Without you, we probably wouldn't have," the man said, "We owe you our lives."

"Daisy always said somebody like you would come along," the woman said as she held out her hand with a good amount of Silver Eagles, "This may not be much, but it's all we have. Take it, please. It's the least that we can do."

"Keep your money," Raiden said; turning down the offer, "I didn't save your lives in return for a reward. I just did what I thought was the right thing to do."

The couple expressed their appreciation to his kindness before they took their leave. The cyborg turned to Elizabeth and saw her with her arms folded over her chest and a smile gracing her features.

"What's that look for?" he asked.

"You saved their lives?" she asked as she sounded a little impressed.

"Saving people's lives was a part of my last job," he said, "Even if it wasn't, I'll gladly lay down my life to protect those who can't defend themselves."

"It's good to know that I'm traveling with someone with a good heart and strong morals," she said as her smile widened.

"You'll change your mind about me once you see who I really am," he muttered so softly that she didn't hear it.

The next room that they had entered was large and full of arcade games of all kinds and styles. Food vendors were set up here and there, selling snacks to customers as everyone enjoyed themselves.

Raiden had been on high alert ever since they escaped from Monument Island. Elizabeth moved around and looked at everything in curiosity while he kept a hand on the invisible HF Murasama blade.

"Hey, Raiden? What is this?" Elizabeth asked as she held a bundle of cotton candy on her hand that a vendor gave to her for free.

"It's cotton candy," he replied as he searched the area for any possible threats, "Try it out and see if you like it."

She gave the sweet a sniff before taking a small bite out of the cotton candy.

"It's so sweet and it just disappears in my mouth," she said as she took another bite.

The girl offered the cyborg some cotton candy, which he politely refused. After finishing her cotton candy, they went to another turnstile that would take them to where they needed to go.

A woman in a grey uniform had been standing in front of the turnstile on the right when they approached. She turned and gave Elizabeth a strange look.

"Annabelle?" she asked after a moment.

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth asked, confused.

"Annabelle, it's me Esther! Don't you remember me?" the woman asked, thinking that she knew the younger woman.

"I'm sorry but I'm not Annabelle. My name is Elizabeth," she replied.

Esther tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at the two of them before smiling.

"Elizabeth? Well, isn't that a lovely name," she said before passing through the turnstile and walking off.

"That was odd," Elizabeth remarked while trying to wonder what that had been about as they went through the turnstile.

Something about that exchange sent several warning bells in the cyborg's mind. Maybe he was being too paranoid and that woman really did mistaken Elizabeth for someone else.

"Last customer, park's closing Park's closing, everyone!" an officer by the stairs called out as he looked up at them from his spot against the wall.

"Let's go, we don't have a lot of time," Raiden said as they moved a little faster up the steps. They entered the atrium where the ticket booth was set up for the airships. The cyborg noticed that the place had a couple of people in it that were just loitering around and speaking in hushed voices that even he couldn't make out with his enhanced hearing.

The cyborg knew something was off but they needed to get onto that airship if they wanted to get out of Columbia.

"Excuse me sir, I'll take two tickets for the First Lady airship," Raiden said after ringing the bell.

The ticket booth operator was on the phone with his back to them as he talked to someone.

"Yeah, just a minute friend," the man replied before going back to talking with whoever was on the other end of the phone, "Yeah, I have it. How do you want to proceed?"

"I'm in a hurry here," Raiden said, getting a little annoyed, "So can you move it along."

"Mmmm hmmm," the man said as he kept speaking, "I got it. I'll ring you back once the matter's in hand. Send in the bird, we're ready to exe-"

The man didn't get to finish that statement for he found the bladed end of a crimson katana at his neck.

"Next time, try not to be so damn obvious when you're about to ambush someone," Raiden advised as he held the man at sword point.

"Let go of me!" he heard Elizabeth cried out as he quickly slit the man's throat and turned around to see two police officers grabbing Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth!" he shouted as he prepared to run off and help her with the Ripper screaming to be released.

"_No! Not in front of her,"_ he mentally screamed back at the Ripper.

An officer managed to run up to him when he slit the man's throat in the booth. And raised his club to hit him only to be met with the deadly blade of the Murasama blade and be bisected diagonally by it.

After dispatching the man, the cyborg saw Elizabeth plant her knee into an officer's crotch, forcing him to release her before she turned to him. Her face changed into one of shock and horror as she saw the dead man at his feet before their eyes met. Without a word, she turned around and ran out of the room just as everyone else drew a weapon and opened fire on Raiden.

Well, since Elizabeth wasn't here anymore, then there was no reason left for not letting Jack the Ripper out.

"I think it's time for Jack, to **LET 'ER RIP!"** the cyborg roared as he charged the men with sadistic glee.

00000

"You will never succeed in your goal to lead our Lamb astray!" the woman that he recalled was named Esther shrieked defiantly at Raiden as he lifted her up by the neck.

She was missing both arms, which the cyborg had slashed off to get rid of her shotgun and leave her unable to use her Bucking Bronco Vigor.

A loud snap echoed in the corpse littered room, leaving the room silent. He tossed aside the dead woman's body before slicing the gate open. He ran down the corridor behind it as he searched for the girl.

"Elizabeth! Where are you!?" he called out as he kept moving. He reached the end of the station where the gondola was moored. It was the only place where she could have gone.

He found her inside the gondola, struggling to work the lever but she just wasn't strong enough to push it into place. When she looked up and saw him in the doorway, she backed away from the controls and tried to put as much distance between them that the small room could allow.

Raiden couldn't fault her for her reactions for they were justifiable, considering the circumstances so he silently sheathed his sword and pulled the lever down.

"Oh my god. You killed them," Elizabeth murmured, still not fully believing what he did, "You killed those people."

"Not the first time," the cyborg sighed as he ran a hand through his ash-grey hair, "And I doubt it would be the last."

"You killed all those people! They're all dead!" she yelled at him as she leaned up and shoved him as hard as she could, "YOU'RE A MONSTER!"

Raiden was barely fazed by her shove but her words sure stung him.

"I am a monster. I don't deny that," he said as he stared out the window, "My hands are stained with so much blood that I will never be able to wash them away. I doubt that I would ever find peace after."

"I'm not going to justify my actions," he continued as he turned to look at the girl, "But do you know the expenses they used to lock you up in that tower? The expenses they used to make that _thing_? You told me that it was its job to keep you locked up and they will put off all stops just get you back under their control."

"The people here won't let you just walk away because you wanted to and the only way for you to be safe is to put as much distance as possible from Columbia. It has reached a point where I either kill them or they kill me. But nothing in this city will stop me from getting you out of here even if I die in the process."

Elizabeth listened to his speech with rapt look gracing her features. She wiped away a few stray tears from her eyes as she looked at the cyborg that had done everything in his power to free her and protect her from anyone that desired to have her captured again.

"What do... what do they want from?" she asked after a while with her hand resting over her chest.

"I don't know," Raiden said, "But you don't have to find out because I'm going to make sure that they don't get what they want."

"What happened back there," she said, "It's not the last of it, was it?"

"No, it's not."

The gondola made its trip along the rails toward where the First Lady was docked. The control room was now quiet as the cyborg and the girl waited for it to stop.

The Luteces told him to rescue Elizabeth and protect her but they didn't specify what was to become of her. He didn't know their true motives so there was no telling what they would do next. But if it turned out that they were just like Comstock, then there would be hell to pay.

"Raiden?" he heard his charge call out for him. He turned to Elizabeth who was looking at the floor and biting her lip.

"I-I need to know the truth," she said as she looked up at him with beseeching eyes, "Why did you come here? Why did you rescue me? If we're going to be traveling to Paris together, I need to know about the one I'm with."

Raiden looked ahead and saw that there was still some time before they reach the airship station.

"Fair enough," he said as he nodded, "But I won't be telling you the whole story just yet."

"Why is that?" Elizabeth asked as she leaned against one of the closed windows.

"Because you wouldn't believe me if I tell you everything but maybe I will tell you the whole after all of this is over."

"Alright then," she conceded after a while.

AN:

CLIFFHANGER!

I gave the regular soldiers of Columbia Vigors to give them an edge over Raiden and to incorporate them into the story.

Since this is a really long chapter, I won't be updating this story for a while.


	4. A Soldier's Honor

Chapter 4

The gondola continued its way toward the airship station with a slow and steady pace.

Raiden had spent the trip explaining his situation to Elizabeth, most of it anyway. He told her about his job back at Maverick before he resigned, the reason for his resignation, the time when he first encountered the Luteces, how he had arrived here, and where he was from. Or to be more specific _when_ he was from.

Of course, he left out the part of about him being Jack the Ripper from her. He wanted to gain her trust, not lose it and telling her this would only make their already complicated situation even more so.

Elizabeth just sat by the window, listening to his every word with wide eyes and slightly agape mouth. She couldn't even manage to blurt out a single word as he recounted his story.

"I…I can't…It's unbelievable," she finally succeeded to say.

"We're on floating city in the sky and some of the people here have superpowers," he said, "Now _that_ I find hard to believe."

"Just toss in the time travel, why don't you?" he said this as he tilted his head upwards at the sky as if he was talking to a higher power.

"I can see it now. I never noticed it when you got me out of the tower, but now," the young woman said as she approached him slowly, "You're different than everyone else and I don't just mean your hair. You hold yourself differently, and you talk differently…but still, a hundred years in the future?"

"A hundred and six years actually," the cyborg corrected, "But I'm pretty sure that there wasn't a city like this back home."

"I think I might know how you got here," she said in thought.

"I thought of that too when I saw you open that portal," he replied, making her look at him in alarm.

"I saw you do it when I was making my way through the tower. And I have to say, out of all the insane things that I have ever seen so far in my life, that puts all of it to shame."

"I haven't really figured out how it works. But what you saw me do was open a Tear," she explained, "It's like opening a doorway to other places and times. I've been able to do it for quite a while now."

The cyborg took note that she gripped her right hand, hiding the thimble that covered the missing half of her pinky.

"So I must've fell through one of these Tears and ended up here in Columbia?" he asked.

"It's the best answer I can think of. There's no other way you could have wound up here," Elizabeth replied as she turned and looked out the window next to her.

"Is that the reason why you saved me?" she asked faintly, "Just so you could go back home?"

"No, it wasn't. In fact, I was just about ready to force those two to send me back," he said, "Until they told me what these people were putting you through. No one deserves to be locked away from the world and be treated like a guinea pig for some bastard's twisted view of the future. Even if I become the most wanted man in the world, then so be it."

The young woman was stunned at his speech.

"Is it true that you're a Handyman?" she asked, changing the subject.

"There's a more technical term for that, but I guess you could call me that."

"What do they call you back where you're from?"

"I'm a cyborg ninja."

"I'm familiar with the term "cyborg" but what's a "ninja"?"

After Raiden clarified to Elizabeth on what a ninja was exactly and what they do, the gondola came to a stop at the airship station. The cyborg took out his sunglasses and put them on while flicking the switch on his sword to render it invisible.

"We better get going if we want to leave this city ASAP," he said as he opened the door and stepped out into the light.

He could see the sun slowly setting down over the horizon.

"Wait," Elizabeth said as she stopped him by grabbing his arm, "Raiden, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for calling you a monster. You didn't deserve that after everything you've done for me. I was just-"

"Scared and confuse at what was happening," Raiden cut her off as he stared directly into her eyes, "You had every right for reacting like that. So it's alright, Elizabeth."

"And if anyone asks about us," the cyborg added as he adjusted his sunglasses, "Just pretend to be a daughter of some rich businessman and I was hired to be your bodyguard."

"I'm not sure of pretending to be a daughter of some rich man but isn't a bodyguard basically what you are at the moment?" Elizabeth quizzically raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly."

With that said, the two stepped off the transport and onto the island. Raiden surveyed the area quickly for enemies. He let out a small sigh of relief when he found none.

"I can't help but be amazed at how quickly you recovered from that dip in the water," the young woman commented, "Not even a Handyman or any other of Fink's cyborgs could walk out of that unfazed like you did."

The mention of more cyborgs from this era worried the cyborg ninja. Hopefully, they won't be on par with modern day cyborg soldiers. But Raiden was far from an ordinary cyborg of course.

"Where I'm from, technology has evolved by leaps and bounds. And as you can see, I am a literal machine from a century ahead of your time," he explained as they made their way the steps to the nearby building.

"Almost all average soldiers were replaced with cyborgs. Heck, even security guards had at least one cybernetic implant to boost their physical aptitude," he continued as they approached the turnstile leading inside.

"Anymore, you want to know?" Raiden glanced at his charge.

Naturally, Elizabeth had a ton of questions that she wanted to ask the cyborg from the future.

"Why do you use a sword? Why not use a gun or something?" she inquired as she opted to question about his choice in weaponry for she expected that someone from the year, 2018 would use a far more advance weapon than a mere sword. Granted that it looked like a futuristic masterpiece but she just imagined something more.

"I was taught that blades were a more noble weapon than guns," he replied, "And so far, they have never let me down."

"Are you ready?" he asked his charge as he gestured at the turnstile, earning a nod from the girl. Without another word, they went inside the building.

The building turned out to be a museum with everything related to patriotism. The unusual partners soon realized that this place was meant to teach children the importance of serving their country and fellow man.

Both of them saw through the façade and found that Comstock was using this place to sway the young children of Columbia to fight in his army and serve him. They felt disgusted with this knowledge and started to examine the rest of the room for something that could be of use.

Elizabeth picked the lock on a nearby door, letting them into an office area. They made out with a sizable sum of Silver Eagles and a Lutece Infusion that Raiden wasted no time in drinking.

With nothing left to look for, the duo headed for the exit to the room when something sparked off in the corner. The power source that was keeping the doorway open flashed before giving off a small explosion and went dark.

The metal shutter above the doorway shook with its power supply cut off. Raiden simply raised his hand to stop the shutter from closing all the way. The cyborg pushed the bottom of the shutter up with enough force to keep it stuck there thus leaving the doorway open even without the use of the power source.

"What's a Shock Jockey?" Elizabeth asked as she looked at a poster that they walked by.

"It's a Vigor. It lets you fire lightning bolts from your hands," Raiden answered.

"Who needs the power company with that?" the young woman said as they left the building and found themselves in the middle of an amusement park.

A loud humming was heard and the ground under them shook slightly as a large airship passed overhead toward a smaller island.

"That's our ride out of here," Raiden said as he watched the ship head to the docks, "We just need to get to those docks and we're home free."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Elizabeth asked as they went down the boardwalk, passing a few other patrons enjoying the park and the people who were managing the place.

"What's your life in the future like?" Elizabeth asked as they walked past a vending machine that could upgrade Vigors, "The way you fight, it seems like you're a warrior of some kind."

"I used to be a soldier even before I became a cyborg," he replied after making sure that no one could eavesdrop on them, "But I guess I'm more of a freelancer now."

"How did you learn to wield a sword?"

"I was trained how to wield one but I improved my skills by studying more diverse swordsmanship by watching videos featuring samurais and other proficient swordsmen.

"What's a samurai?"

"A samurai is kind of like a knight. They do battle with a special code of honor that also dictate's how they live their lives like protecting the weak and those who can't defend themselves."

"Why the sudden interest in playing twenty questions?" Raiden asked his charge.

"I've never really had a life, Raiden. I just wanted to know what yours is like," she said as she twiddled with her fingers sheepishly.

"Alright, ask away," he said, making her sigh in relief.

"What does "ASAP" mean?" she asked.

"It's an acronym. It stands for "As Soon As Possible"."

"Oh, okay," she said as they fell into an awkward silence for a moment.

They went past by a couple of people and they heard them talk in hush tones about what had happened to Monument Island. Most of them said that it was the work of the Vox Populi while some said that it was the False Shepard and his crusade against Comstock.

The cyborg ninja shook his head. Those people had no idea how close they were to being correct. It was fortunate that his newly purchased gloves were concealing his serial number and barcode so no one could see it.

"Is there someone special in your life?" Elizabeth asked, making him look her way as they walked, "A woman?"

"Kind of a personal question, don't you think?" he said to her, "But I do have someone special in my life."

"Who?"

"My wife."

"Oh, you're married!" she clasped her hands in excitement, "But I didn't see a wedding ring on your finger."

"It's hard to wear a ring with hands like mine," he responded as he adjusted his glove.

"I guess that having robot hands does make it difficult to wear a ring," she nodded in understanding.

"Besides, I would have lost it some time ago if I did wear a ring," he shrugged.

"Are you prone to losing things?"

"No, it's just that my left arm got sliced off a couple of months before."

"One of the perks of being a cyborg," he explained when he saw his charge's jaw dropped down, "Lose a limb, just get it replaced. Please don't ask how it got sliced off."

Raiden chuckled inwardly as the girl nodded her head slowly. She was shocked to hear someone talk so casually about losing an appendage as if it was something that you lose everyday.

After a few minutes, they reached the site where the gondola would take them to the airship dock. Pulling the lever, the power conduit next to it sputtered and went out like the one back in the museum.

"Dammit, it looks like it needs some kind of charge to get it up and running again," the cyborg said as he examined the conduit.

"What about the Shock Jockey Vigor?" Elizabeth suggested helpfully, "It looks like these power supplies run on the charge they give out."

"I doubt that Vigors would work on me," he said as he pointed at the sign, which said that the Shock Jockey could be found at the Hall of Heroes, "But we should still get some so we can get across."

He could just let Elizabeth take the Vigor and recharge the power supply. But the cyborg won't let it come to that for having a Vigor could drag her into any future battles and he made an oath to keep her from killing anyone after her initial reactions towards the soldiers' deaths.

Maybe the liquid form of the Vigor was enough to jumpstart the generator so she wouldn't have to take it.

"I think it's this way," Elizabeth said as she pointed in the direction of a few buildings before they began to head there. Darkness began to settle in on the floating city. The sky became a dark purple, causing several streetlights on the island to turn on.

A gunship flew over the area with its PA system turned on as they went up the boardwalk toward the Hall of Heroes.

"Gentlemen, the False Shepard is loose in the streets of our fair city! Will you suffer the shame of allowing your wives and your daughters to fall prey to his machinations?"

"Seriously?" the "False Shepard" muttered as he and Elizabeth moved a little faster so they weren't discovered.

"Or will you act? Act for your women fold! Act for your Prophet! ACT!" the man on the PA system announced before it shut down.

The duo reached the bottom of a small flight of stairs and saw three soldiers patrolling by the entrance. Raiden pulled Elizabeth down behind an empty vendor's booth and took off his sunglasses for the Solid Eye to slide over his eye.

"We can't afford to make a scene here. We need to be subtle," he told her as he peered around at the hostiles.

"I take it you have a plan," his companion said.

"Yeah, get on my back," he told her as he offered to carry her piggyback-style.

"What!?"

"I know how to get across without alerting them to our presence but I'm going to have to carry you since you don't have any experience in sneaking past the enemy," he clarified.

"Cover your mouth," he warned as she finally gave in and held onto his back. She was able to cover her mouth before the cyborg jumped up to the top of the booth, earning a muffled squeak from the girl. He leaped across from rooftop to rooftop until they were in front of the building.

He silently dropped down and set his charge down who promptly glared at him.

"What?" he arched an eyebrow at the young woman, "It worked, didn't it?"

Instead of answering, Elizabeth just sighed and slipped into the building with the cyborg following close after her.

"Hall of Heroes closed until further notice," Elizabeth read a nearby sign as they got into the elevator.

"At least we know that there won't be much people there," Raiden replied as he pressed the button of the elevator. The lift doors closed and it began to ascend to the proper floor.

While inside, the cyborg saw another False Shepard poster on the wall. The image depicted was that of a one-eyed monster with clawed hands and feet, spikes on the shoulders and a missing lower lip, revealing sharp teeth. In one of its claws, it had a terrified lamb, struggling to break free while the other claw wielded a flaming curved sword. The image unnervingly looked like his Custom Cyborg Body with the HF Murasama Blade.

"So they call you the False Shepard," Elizabeth said, following his line of sight.

"And they call you the Lamb," Raiden said.

"Let's not call each other that."

"Don't have to tell me twice," he muttered before the elevator shook and came to a stop.

"Crap," Raiden cursed.

"What was that? Is something wrong?" she asked as the lights flickered.

"Must've blown a circuit or something. Let's see if I can fix this," the cyborg said as he opened up a conveniently placed fuse box and looked over the interior. It was a little different than the circuit breakers back in his time, but it probably had the same basic principle to it.

While he was going through each fuse to see which one would help them get going again, he heard Elizabeth let out a small scream when a soft buzzing sound was heard in the room.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he looked at his charge in concern.

"A bee!" she exclaimed as she swat the air at the offending insect, "I hate those things!"

"Leave the bee alone and it'll leave you alone," he sighed as he returned his attention to the fuse box.

"But it'll sting me!" she said in fear as she moved out of the bee's flight path.

"It will if you keep annoying it like that," he shook his head at the ridiculous situation that they were in.

"Actually, I have an idea," Elizabeth said as she approached a poster on the wall and made the same tearing motion that she did back at the tower. Raiden watched with wide eyes and quickly shut off the Solid Eye as she tore open a portal that took up half of the elevator.

The opening revealed an open window in a living room somewhere. The breeze from the window filled the room with fresh air as the bee flew out the open window.

Raiden let out a low whistle as he approached the window and stood next to Elizabeth.

"Neat trick."

"Most of the time, the Tears are dull as dishwater. A different color towel or tea instead of coffee," she said as she reached out and plucked a single rose from the planter outside the window. She then slipped the flower behind her ear.

"Sometimes I can see something amazing, and I can pull it through."

"I don't suppose you can pull out an airship from there," he asked.

"No such luck," the young woman shook her head, "The strange thing was that, every once in a while I'd feel very weak and I couldn't open a Tear for at least a week. But now-"

She stopped in the middle of the sentence when they both saw something fly past the window before them.

"Oh, no…" she whimpered as the form flew by again. It then stopped in midair and turned its gaze toward the window.

The Songbird shrieked loudly before flapping its gigantic wings and shot toward their direction.

"Close it!" Raiden yelled as he unsheathed the HF Murasama blade while Elizabeth attempted to close the Tear. The Songbird got closer and closer.

He pulled out an EMP grenade. Removing the pin with his teeth, he threw the grenade at the incoming threat. It struck the creature dead on when it exploded and unleashed an electromagnetic field designed to fry machines and stun cyborgs.

The cyborg was able to catch a glimpse of the creature convulsing and falling out of the sky before the portal slammed shut, throwing both of them onto the floor.

The Songbird was either some kind of Metal Gear or a heavily modified cyborg, judging from the result of the EMP grenade. Whatever it was though, he now had an advantage against the creature.

But he only had that one EMP grenade with him and he already literally threw it out the window.

"Let's not do that again," Raiden said as he stood back up and helped her back to her feet, "But if you ever have to open a Tear, be careful and warn me before you do it."

"I won't let you down," Elizabeth nodded in agreement as he sheathed his blade and went back to the fuse box. He found the damaged fuse and swapped it out with a spare, causing the elevator to come back to life and continue its way up.

When the doors to the elevator opened, they immediately saw why the place was closed down.

It looked a war happened here recently. The whole place was trashed with blood and bullet holes covering most surfaces. Empty boxes of guns and ammunitions were scattered amongst damaged furniture and statues had been knocked down and damaged.

"What happened here?" Elizabeth asked as they made their way out of the hall.

"From the looks of it, nothing good for us," Raiden said as they entered the next corridor where they found a locked door. His charge advanced to the door and started to pick the lock.

The lock fell away and the door opened up, allowing them into a wide-open area with a bar on one side and a shop on the other. In the center of the two buildings was a group of soldiers that had gathered with their leader giving a speech.

"Stay here while I deal with them," Raiden told her as he took out the ancient Japanese sword and removed his shoes, revealing cybernetic feet.

"Hold these for me," he told her as he handed over his shoes to her.

"Please be careful," Elizabeth said to him as he moved out of cover and went down the steps into the open.

"Now, I know you've all come to think of Slate as some kind of war hero, but he's a traitor to the Prophet! He and his troops have thrown themselves in with the Vox, and it's up to us from preventing Slate's forces from joining…" the squad leader stopped in mid-speech when he saw Raiden walking towards them with his sword resting on his shoulder.

"Sonovabitch! It's him! It's the False Shepard!" he shouted, making all of his men turn around and bring out their weapons. Some soldiers, including the leader showed the signs of Vigor powers being manifested.

He flipped over their line of fire and positioned his body in midair so that his feet were holding the sword. He landed on an unfortunate soldier where the blade pierced his back. He flipped over again, throwing the man's body at his comrades. With the blade still being held by the foot grip, he swung his leg back and bisected a soldier by the waist. Still retaining momentum, the cyborg removed the HF blade from the foot grip and shifted the path of the blade to cleave two more soldiers behind him in half.

He took out the knife that was strapped to his calf with the grips on the bottom of his foot. He twirled his body and then threw the knife with his foot at the remaining soldier. His aim struck true as it stabbed into the man's throat.

"Thanks for the practice," Raiden said as more soldiers began coming out of the nearby buildings.

"But playtime is over," he announced as the Solid Eye slid over his eye while the other one turned crimson.

Elizabeth watched the battle unfold from her hiding place. It seemed like a one-sided massacre as she watched Raiden cut down each armed gunman and Vigor-user with just a sword.

Even the books that she read on warfare didn't compare to what she was witnessing. Bullets and Vigor powers flew in every direction as her companion dominated the battlefield. He didn't even bother to duck down behind cover and merely deflected incoming bullets with his sword instead. He made the battle look like a performance with his deadly choreographed movements.

Raiden dashed towards a soldier and decapitated him without missing a beat. He repeated this maneuver to several more soldiers until there was none left standing.

"Look out, Raiden! A Crow!" he heard Elizabeth call out to him from where she was hiding. He turned to where she was pointing at where a murder of crows gathered together and formed a familiar black-cloaked figure with a coffin on his back.

"Another one of you bastards?" Raiden asked as he slipped into a battle-ready stance. The Crow raised his arms and sent a swarm of birds his way. The cyborg simply cut them down just like he did when he was deflecting bullets.

The cloaked man disappeared in a swirl of feathers and reappeared several feet in front of the cyborg, swinging a thin sword at him.

Elizabeth expected Raiden to block the swing or dodge it. You can imagine her surprise when the Crow was suddenly cut into tiny bloody pieces while Raiden crushed a bottle of Salts in his hand.

"You can come out now, Elizabeth!" he called out as he retrieved his throwing knives from the dead soldiers.

The young woman stood up slowly and looked at all of the carnage with a slightly pale face.

"Such a waste of life," she murmured as Raiden scraped the blood and gore off his sword and knives.

"I know," he said as he put away his now clean weapons and put on his shoes that his charge returned to him.

"I noticed that you didn't try to open a Tear back there," he said as they made their way to the Sky-line station.

"There has to be a tear around for me to use," Elizabeth explained, "I can't just make them appear out of thin air."

"That makes sense, I guess," Raiden nodded in understanding.

"They've shut down the gondola access to the Hall of Heroes," his charge said as they looked for a way across, "Maybe because of what's going on with that man, Slate."

"I could bet my bottom dollar why," Raiden stated, staring at the wanted poster of the man that she was talking about.

Cornelius Slate was an older man with a baldhead, several scars and an eye-patch. The cyborg could easily tell that the man was a war veteran from the drawing.

Raiden cleared the Sky-line by cutting the crates blocking them down.

"This is going to be fantastic!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she pulled out a second Sky-Hook from a crate and slipped it on.

"Just be careful, alright?" he replied as he took out his own, "Neither of us wants you to break your neck."

"You ready?" he asked, getting an eager nod in return. The cyborg and the young woman stood at the edge of the platform before leaping up and latching onto the Sky-line where they quickly zipped off.

Reaching the end of the line, they jumped off the Sky-line and onto the ground outside the Hall of Heroes.

"That was so much fun!" Elizabeth exclaimed, beaming from the rush.

"Like riding a rollercoaster," Raiden said, briefly forgetting that he wasn't in his own time period before seeing the confused look on his companion's face, "Let's go. The sooner we retrieve the Shock Jockey, the sooner we get out of Columbia."

The two headed toward the end of the docking area of the smaller island when a gunshot disrupted the silence. The cyborg grabbed Elizabeth and pulled her down behind a kiosk when a round punched through a pillar that had been right next to his head.

He could tell that the shooter wasn't an expert marksman for the bullet would've hit his head even with his enhanced reflexes. But he was probably good enough to shoot down anyone who would try to make it to the steps of the building as evidenced by all of the bodies of police officers and soldiers that had not been able to reach the building's front steps.

"Sniper, top floor to the left," he said to the young woman as he braced his legs for a sprint.

"Wait, Raiden! Use this," Elizabeth said, tossing him a long rifle with a scope attached to it.

"Where did you find this?" Raiden asked as he caught the sniper rifle and examined it with the eyes of an adept marksman.

"When you pulled me down, I saw it leaning against the kiosk on the other side. I thought it would be useful," the girl said as the cyborg racked the bolt forward and chambered a round.

"Good thinking," Raiden commented as he aimed the rifle at the sniper. He didn't need to hold his breath to steady his aim due to the fact that he doesn't need to breathe. He only breathed out of habit instead of necessity.

A booming clap was heard as he fired the rifle. The body of the sniper fell two stories down and hit the ground below.

"Sniper's down," he declared as they got up and began making their way to the building.

The Hall of Heroes was not in a tourist friendly state. Windows had been broken and statues were vandalized. The large angel statue in the center of the front courtyard had its face and breasts painted like a clown. The sign had been tampered with so it read as "Hall of Whores" instead of "Hall of Heroes".

Their moment of reprieve didn't last long as the front doors of the building burst open and a dozen men in armor stormed out with guns blazing.

It took Raiden a moment to realize that the armor of some of the men weren't actually armor.

Unlike him, these cyborg soldiers only had one or two limbs replaced by a mechanical one. Their mechanical limbs also had a steampunk theme going for them but he assumed it was because they didn't know how to make carbon nanotube muscle fiber that they looked like that.

The cyborg ninja raised the sniper rifle and fired a round at each one of the men charging at them. He didn't bother to look through the scope on the rifle due to his Solid Eye magnifying his vision for him.

When the gun ran out of bullets, the former Maverick agent tossed it aside before taking out the High-Frequency Murasama Blade. Using Ninja Run to get closer to the enemy, he quickly cut down any opposition whether or not they were cyborgs or Vigor-users.

One of the men ran at him and threw a punch from his motorized arm only to see Raiden catch the offending fist with his free hand. Applying some of his enhanced strength, the cyborg ninja crushed the fist in his grip into metal bits.

A stab into the man's abdomen from Raiden's blade put him out for good as everything went quiet again.

Elizabeth came out from her hiding spot and saw her companion scrutinizing the body of the man that he just killed.

"What is it?" she asked.

"These men aren't Comstock's," Raiden said as the Solid Eye slid back and shut down, "Their uniforms have some differences to them that Comstock's soldiers don't have. They also used different tactics that a war veteran knows very well."

"What do you think it means? Someone is training a small militia to fight?"

"And that "someone" would be Cornelius Slate. It looks like they're using this place as a base."

He began to head in the direction of the front door with Elizabeth right next to him.

"Do you think he knows what we're here to get?" she asked as they reached the top.

"If he doesn't already know, he'll soon find out," Raiden replied as they stepped inside.

00000

The Hall of Heroes was dark with only a minority of lights illuminating the dark corridors and rooms that depicted Columbia's history. This museum that was supposed to represent the patriotism and sacrifice of brave men became a place of death and chaos.

The interior of the building was just as bad as the outside. Displays and statues were knocked over or vandalized. Bodies of patrons and police officers laid on the tiled floor.

Elizabeth stepped forward and picked up a lit lantern from the body of one of the men that once ran the place.

"This looked like a beautiful place at one time," she said as she stepped lightly around the body at her feet, "I hope we don't run into any trouble while we're here."

"From my experience, that's not going to be the case," Raiden said as they slowly made their way down the hallway before them.

"If you say so," the young woman said as she flicked her eyes from side to side for anything that moved.

The place was quiet except for the sounds of the automatons and vending machines. They moved around some debris that was on the floor and approached a set of double doors. Raiden gently prodded the door open slightly to soundlessly enter the large and dark room behind it.

"Stay behind me," he whispered to his charge.

Elizabeth's lantern cut through the darkness, giving her enough light to observe the room. The cyborg was just fine whether it was dark or not since stealth ops usually happen in dark locations and night vision goggles weren't always on hand.

"Our Prophet, Father Comstock. Commander of the 7th Cavalry," the girl read off the words on the plaque located at the base of the statue that was dominating the room.

"I'm no expert on American History but I never heard of Comstock leading the 7th Cavalry," Raiden said, trying to recall the bits of history that he knew.

"That's because he isn't no hero!" a voice boomed over the building's PA system as spotlights from above shined down on the two.

"Cornelius Slate, I presume?" the cyborg asked as he stared at part of the ceiling, which was the most likely spot for a camera to be hidden.

"Indeed, and you must be Raiden. Strange name that is but you're the so called False Shepard that has been causing trouble for that bastard Comstock," Cornelius Slate replied, "Have you come here to kill even more of my men?"

"It was self-defense and no, I didn't. Just give us the Shock Jockey and we won't have any problems."

"You misunderstand, Raiden. I'm not angry from you killing my men."

"Why not?" Elizabeth joined in.

"Because he gave them an honorable death on the battlefield," Slate answered, "And that is all a warrior should desire."

"By that logic, then a lot of Comstock's men have been given the same honor in the last few hours," the cyborg pointed out.

"Comstock's men are cowards!" the war veteran roared, "They had no chance at defeating us on the battlefield! So they imprisoned us here to starve us and treat us like mad dogs! After what my men and I have endured, we deserve a true warrior's death!"

Raiden didn't like the sound of that and he had a feeling at what he was getting at. So he unsheathed the HF Murasama blade and placed himself in front of Elizabeth for protection.

"All of my men have left is a choice: die at the hands of a tin soldier like Comstock…or a real one! You have proven yourself to be a capable warrior, therefore _you_ will grant my men the honor they rightfully deserve, Raiden!"

Lights came on all around the room. The doors burst open and Slate's men began pouring inside with clubs and knives.

The cyborg ninja had met people like Slate before so he knew that he had no choice but to kill these men even if he didn't want to.

With that in mind, he cut them down before they got the chance to attack him and his charge. Then more of Slate's men went into the room.

The cyborg sliced the base of the statue of Comstock and he kicked the top portion off, sending it crashing to the new group of soldiers that just arrived. Most of them were crushed by the immense weight while the few, which weren't, got pinned down by the effigy of the man they hated so much.

Raiden could see the irony in that.

"You see!? You see, you are a killer, Raiden! A true soldier under the surface! You're the one that can give us the honor that has been robbed from us," Slate said over the PA.

"Please stop this!" Elizabeth shouted, "We just want the Shock Jockey. No one has to die anymore!"

"If it's the Vigor you and your companion want, then he will have to kill his way to get it," the war veteran replied.

"I don't have a bone to pick with _you_ or _your men_!" Raiden exclaimed, "Enough of this nonsense and give us the Shock Jockey!"

"Like I told your pretty friend, if you want what you came here for, you're going to have to kill for it," Slate replied before the PA clicked off, leaving the cyborg and the girl in silence.

"He's mad," Elizabeth said, biting her lip, "Why won't he just give us what we came here for?"

"Kill or be killed," Raiden quoted from what the nihilistic cyborg ninja, Monsoon, told him before their battle, "That's must be what Slate believes in. It was also the same thing that a lot of the people I fought against believed in."

"I can't believe this!" the young woman cried, "It's insanity!"

"It doesn't matter if you believe it or not. It still won't change what others believe in."

"Well, what do you believe in?" she shot back at him.

This question caught the cyborg ninja off guard.

If he were asked this question before the Desparado Incursions, then he would say that he protected the weak and that his sword was a tool of justice. But now, he wasn't so sure anymore.

"I believe that getting you out of Columbia is my top priority so we have no choice but to play by Slate's rules," he finally decided to say.

Leaving the girl to contemplate on what he said, he went into a large storage room where he found another Lutece Infusion sitting on a workbench.

With nothing else of value in the direct vicinity, Raiden returned to Elizabeth's side and then they moved vigilantly through the halls of the building. The cyborg ninja lead the way with his HF blade out as they entered a room that branched off into three directions. Each lead to a different scenery-like display of past wars except for the one in the middle due to the metal gate blocking the way.

Raiden activated the Solid Eye and saw that the exhibits on the left and right were filled with soldiers. So that meant an ambush was waiting for them if they go to either exhibit.

Guessing that it didn't matter which way they went, he decided to go right first. They found themselves entering the Wounded Knee Exhibit of the museum.

"The tin soldier has taken credit for the deeds of the real ones," Slate announced over the PA, "He would never know true honor, stealing the glory of those who rightfully earned it."

Raiden paid no mind to what Slate said as they went through the exhibit. Elizabeth jumped a couple of times when a large cut out of a Native American popped out with a tomahawk. They eventually went through a set of double doors that lead to a small room.

In the center of the room was a small stage with a George Washington automaton that had a banner before it. The banner read: "Our Prophet. The Hero of Wounded Knee."

"I'm starting to see why Slate's fighting against Comstock so badly," Elizabeth said.

"I'm a little lost here," Raiden stated, "But what happened exactly at the battle of Wounded Knee?"

"You mean you don't know?" his charge replied in surprise, "How can you not know?"

"I never really paid attention to history," the cyborg shrugged.

"Didn't they teach you that in school?"

Solidus and the Patriots only taught Raiden how to be the perfect soldier the moment he could walk so he never had an ordinary education. He did become a flawless killer at a very young age with occasional bouts of psychopathic tendencies.

Of course, the cyborg couldn't tell her _that_!

"I was home-schooled," Raiden replied, leaving like that.

They moved around and into the next room as Elizabeth narrated the Battle of Wounded Knee to him.

The Battle of Wounded Knee didn't sound like an actual battle to the cyborg ninja but a massacre that all started with a misunderstanding. He then remembered where he heard about Wounded Knee. Back in his timeline, it wasn't called the Battle of Wounded Knee but the _Massacre_ of Wounded Knee. It made him sick that Comstock and Slate took pride in taking part of that bloodshed.

The cyborg returned his attention to his surroundings. The room that they were in was dark, but it was still manageable for him to fight in. In fact, the lack of light gave him the advantage.

That didn't last though when the lights turned on. The walls were bathed in an orange-red flow similar to fire as cutouts of Indians moved about.

"Here's the young soldier I spoke of!" Slate cried with a hint of pride over the PA system, "The kind of man that Comstock pretended to be! See if I told you the truth!"

Battle cries echoed through the air. Raiden didn't bother to look up to see one of Slate's men running down a ramp at him with a club. Deciding that the man wasn't worth the effort, he casually cleaved the man from the hip to the shoulder. Then the sounds of more soldiers began to fill the room.

"Elizabeth, you stay out of sight while I take care of these men," he calmly said as glanced at his charge and showed no concern except her safety.

Naturally, Elizabeth wanted to argue with the cyborg about leaving him behind but she had already witnessed his skills before so she knew he didn't need or want her help at the moment. That didn't stop her from swinging her lantern and hitting one of the men to assist him though.

The man merely shrugged off the assault and attempted to retaliate. A swipe of a familiar red blade put a stop to that however.

"I thought I told you to stay out of sight!" he said to her before pushing her out of the way and deflecting the bullets that nearly hit her.

After being almost riddled with bullets, Elizabeth thought it would be wise to follow his order.

With the girl out of harm's way, Raiden shifted back to full attention on the growing numbers of opposition. Slate continued to send wave after wave of soldiers filled with more of those steampunk cyborgs and Vigor-user.

The Vigors still caught the cyborg ninja off guard every now and then. On the other hand, he was used to dealing with cyborgs even though these cyborgs were different from modern day cyborgs so they were only slightly more difficult to deal with than the average soldier.

"Next," Raiden called out to them after cutting down a group of cyborgs.

A group of Vigor-users came in through the door that he and Elizabeth came through before. But they were blown up by a well-placed throw of a grenade from Raiden.

"_There goes my last grenade."_

He didn't have many sub-weapons on him because he was planning to restock on them after dealing with those mercenaries and then those Lutece twins showed up and sent him to Columbia.

It seemed like that happened so long ago.

"_This can't be all they got,"_ the cyborg ninja though as he swiped his blade through the air to remove the accumulated blood on it. He then heard familiar loud clanking footsteps.

Coming around a corner, the armored form of a Fireman stepped into the room. The armor was painted with patriotic colors like the rest of Slate's men. Flames licked around his gloved hands as he sneered at the cyborg ninja from behind the visor of his helmet.

"Burn in hell!" the Fireman roared as he unleashed a wave of fires at the cyborg, completely engulfing Raiden in flames.

"RAIDEN!" Elizabeth cried out, fearing for her protector.

As she began to lose hope, Raiden burst out from the inferno with his sword held high. He brought it down on the Fireman who was too shocked to move out of the way. His foe was sliced vertically in half.

He showed no marks of being burned except for the burnt rags that used to be his clothes.

He gripped the burnt cloth in his hand and ripped it off his steaming (AN: not in the sexy hot way, but in the superheated metal kind of way) body, revealing his status as a cyborg ninja.

His cybernetic body held a similar design to his first cyborg body. The only differences were that his shoulder areas were colored a darker shade of gray and his feet didn't resemble high heels anymore. Instead, they looked exactly like the feet that he had in his Custom Cyborg body.

Thankfully, his artificial hair and skin were fireproof, but the smoldering heat still did some damage to his highly durable body, which were slowly being repaired by the Lutece Infusion.

"I already have," Raiden said to the dead Fireman, "Not much left of me to burn anyway."

"You see, young miss? You see the man who Comstock wishes he was?" Slate asked over the PA with pride in his voice, "The tin soldier can't even compare to him and he's only wielding a sword!"

"I am more of a "tin soldier" than Comstock," Raiden told the old veteran as he held his arms out. He was referring to the fact that his whole body except for his brain was a machine.

"Yes, I am aware of your…condition. But you fought with more honor than that man would ever achieve in a lifetime! You are a worthy soldier as far as I'm concerned."

"I don't give a damn on what you think. I killed enough of your men so give us the Shock Jockey!" the cyborg ninja shout, disgust was evident in his tone.

"I will after you do the same for me," Slate replied, "Come and look for me amongst the boxers."

The PA system cut off, leaving Raiden to wonder what the man meant by looking for him amongst the boxers.

"Boxers? I think that's a term for the Chinese," Elizabeth said as she got out of her hiding place and went to stand by his side.

"Boxer is kind of offensive term for them," the cyborg ninja pointed out.

As his charge was about to reply to that comment, they heard the sound of airship engines outside the building's walls.

"Can you hear Comstock's tin soldiers coming to silence us?" Slate asked, "But we are the true patriots! The history that does not fit in their books."

The situation just got a lot more complicated now that Comstock's forces were coming into the equation. Hopefully, both sides will be too busy with killing each other off to notice the cyborg ninja and his charge.

They then began to head into the Peking Exhibit.

00000

The second exhibit had been more challenging than the last one. Raiden had a suspicion that Slate assessed the cyborg's skills back in the Wounded Knee Exhibit and deployed a more variety of regular soldiers, steampunk cyborgs, and Vigor-users in the Peking Exhibit.

Raiden had to deal with twice the amount of soldiers with Slate shouting praises for the death and slaughter over the PA system. That wasn't the only thing though. He was forced to fight another Fireman and a Crow _at the same time!_

Individually, they were bigger threat compared to ordinary soldiers, not by much though to the cyborg ninja. Fighting them together was entirely different case altogether.

They complemented each other's weaknesses. Where the Fireman lacked in maneuverability, the Crow had enough to put Raiden's reaction time to the test. Where the Crow lacked in power to deal decisive blows with his sword, the Fireman literally had enough firepower to deal some serious injury to the cyborg.

But even with all of their advantages, Raiden still came out on top. The cyborg had to admit that Elizabeth did help him a bit by tossing Salts to him and throwing random objects at the enemy. He didn't like her joining in on the fight though; a point that he swiftly told to his charge after the battle was over.

The glare of determination that she gave him made him take an involuntary step back at its intensity.

When the last of the soldiers finally fell to his blade, the two returned to the center after not finding Slate there.

Raiden let his charge sit on a nearby bench so she could catch her breath. He leaned against the wall beside the bench with honed instincts on alert.

"I hope Paris is worth all of this trouble," Elizabeth muttered before drinking from a jug of water that the cyborg salvaged from one of the soldiers.

"What is it with women and Paris?" Raiden mumbled softly so she wouldn't hear him.

Their short respite was broken when Slate's voice crackled over the intercom.

"I've got what you need, Raiden. Come find me past the First Lady's memorial and we will finish this."

"_Oh, we will finish this,"_ Raiden thought as he pushed himself off the wall and drew the HF Murasama blade.

"Raiden, you aren't really considering killing him are you?" Elizabeth asked as they headed toward the door leading the way out of the room.

"Yes, I have considered killing Slate," the cyborg replied truthfully, "But only when push comes to shove."

The door leading to the memorial burst open and four men charged at the two. Placing the sword in his foot grips, he performed a wide kick with the sword that sliced through all four men. The path was now clear.

The room that the men came from was filled with candles. Large paintings of Lady Comstock, showing how important the woman was to the city.

"Say what you want about Lady Comstock, but the woman had an eye for fashion," Elizabeth said, causing Raiden to roll his eyes. As if he knew anything about fashion in 1912. Hell, he doesn't even know anything about fashion back in _2018_!

"You've seen what Comstock has done to my history. Now see how he's rewritten his own," Slate said as they entered the courtyard outside the memorial room.

The cyborg stood before a statue of Lady Comstock holding a baby in the air while riding a chariot pulled by a horse.

"The Seed of the Prophet lay in the Womb of our Lady but for a Single Week," Elizabeth read off the words of the plaque, "But the Child took ill, and our Lady Prayed for the Prophet's Heir day and night."

"That's impossible," Raiden said as he shook his head, "It takes more than a week for a baby to develop enough functions to survive. You wouldn't give a sign that you were pregnant if it was only a week."

"Comstock had a child, but my books never said anything about the child," his charge said as they moved on.

Raiden already knew a lot about the "Child of the Prophet". In fact, he was standing right next to her. He didn't know how he was going to tell her that though.

They entered another part of the building and received the answer in the form of a familiar angel statue that was set up on a high-rise in the center of the room.

"The Seed of the Prophet. The Prophet took his Seed to a Place of Refuge," the plaque on the bridge leading to the statue said.

"That's my tower…" Elizabeth trailed off.

"I'm…I'm…" she tried to say as the blood slowly left her face.

"The so called "Seed of the Prophet"," Raiden finished, scowling at the statue as if it did serious offense against him.

"It-it can't be true! It just can't be!" Elizabeth shook her head, not wanting to believe it.

"You're right. It's not true," Raiden said, making the girl spin around to face him, "Before you and I met, the Luteces told me that Comstock stole you from your real family. I didn't know for what purpose at first but now, it makes sense."

At his words, the young woman fell into deep silence as she pondered things over.

"That…I don't…" tears welled up in her eyes as the idea of her being kidnapped from her family and used as some kind of tool to control the citizens of the city.

The mere thought made her weak in the knees. Before she could fall to the ground, Raiden caught her and set her down gently against the wall.

"There really wasn't a perfect opportunity to tell you this. But for what it's worth, I'm sorry," he said with a guilt-ridden voice as he sat down against the wall beside her.

"It's not your fault," she whispered, "I doubt that I would've taken it well even if you told me beforehand."

"It does put things into perspective though. I always wondered why I was in that tower and why my family would put me through that. To know that it wasn't their fault…" she trailed off.

She then looked up at him with tears still in her eyes yet shined with a new light: hope.

"I want to find them, Raiden."

"Don't worry, we'll find them," her companion assured her.

After a few minutes, they wordlessly stood back up and headed to the door.

"What would Comstock gain from taking another person's child? Looking good in from of his followers seems too shallow," she said as she began working on the lock on the door, "There has to be something else."

"He was training you to succeed as leader after he passed away. He wanted you to be his replacement," Raiden replied as the lock fell away in record time.

"Well, I want a puppy, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get one!" Elizabeth exclaimed as her usual cheerful face changed into one of anger.

"After we get out of here, why don't I get you a puppy?" the cyborg grinned in a smug manner.

"That sounds like a good idea to me," Elizabeth replied with her own smug grin.

The next room was another memorial. This one depicted the Murder of the First Lady. A statue of the leader of the Vox Populi, Daisy Fitzroy, stood behind a corner with a red silk strip in its hands while a statue of Lady Comstock kneeled in prayer.

_So that's why everyone here hates the Vox so much,"_ Raiden mused as they passed through the room, _"But considering that Comstock lied about his child, it may not be the case."_

They went through the rest of the memorial and through a second one that had been dubbed the Revengeance of the Prophet.

"_Is revengeance even a word?"_ the former child soldier wondered before coming to an iron gate that blocked their path.

"I can get through these bars, but you're too broad," Elizabeth said.

"I have a better idea," he replied as he drew out the high-frequency blade and approached the gate.

With a few fast swipes from his blade that the young woman had a hard time to follow, the metal gate collapsed into pieces on the ground.

Elizabeth stared at the destroyed gate in shocked silence for quite some time as he calmly sheathed the sword.

"Just what is that sword made out of!?" she cried soon after she recovered from the shock.

Seriously? That was what got her so worked up about after seeing the many things that he could do as a cyborg from the twenty-first century?

"This sword is a high-frequency blade," he explained, "A high-frequency blade is a sword reinforced by a powerful alternating current and resonates at extremely high frequencies. This oscillation weakens the molecular bonds of anything it cuts, thus increasing its cutting ability. The current is also the reason why the blade is red."

"So it's basically a sword that can cut through virtually anything," he concluded.

"That would explain how you were able to hurt Songbird," Elizabeth said.

He opened his mouth to answer her but something caught his attention.

"What's that?" Raiden said as heard something that sounded like a loud ripple coming from the courtyard in front of them.

He looked up and saw a wooden construction with a lift hook attached to it. It looked all black and white like…like those Tears.

"It's a Tear. Something I can bring into this world," Elizabeth confirmed his suspicions as they moved to the ledge that overlooked an empty and open courtyard.

A small flight of steps led up to a set of doors that would hopefully lead them to where Slate was. They could see a small squad of his men trying to hide behind makeshift barricades.

The cyborg pulled his charge out of sight when he caught sight of three flashes of light.

"More Tears?" he asked as he pointed them out.

"They are and we can use them against Slate's men," Elizabeth said, crouching down next to him, "The first one will give us hooks for higher ground. The second one gives us a turret. As for the third one, I can't clearly see what it gives us but it looks like a dog of some kind. Which one do you think we will need?"

"Open up the turret," Raiden spoke to his charge, "I would really like some cover fire this time."

Elizabeth held out her hand and concentrated. A beam of light shot out from her and struck the Tear down below. The opening expanded until there was a flash of light. In the place of the Tear was a grainy yet solid automated machine gin turret. It immediately began to fire at the soldiers with heavy rounds.

The cyborg ninja jumped down from the ledge and landed right behind the turret. As his feet touched the ground, the form of the turret began blur then shift to something different.

In the previous turret's place was a DShK.

The DShK was a large-caliber turret used by the Soviet Union. It was officially adopted into the Soviet Union in 1939, and its name was an acronym. The "D" and "Sh" stood for the developers of the turret: Detgrayev and Shpagin, and the "K" was based on the Russian word for large-caliber. The gun was gas-powered and capable of firing off five hundred and fifty rounds per minute via a belt feed system.

This turret may a fossil back home for Raiden, but it was more than twenty years ahead of the kind of weaponry they had in 1912. Not even the guns in the slightly advanced city, Columbia could match this turret in the battlefield.

Instead of questioning the sudden transformation, the cyborg ninja got behind the heavy machine gun and let loose an unstoppable stream of bullets at the enemy. The large-caliber bullets quickly tore apart the soldiers' makeshift cover, eventually tearing apart the enemy soldiers as well.

Raiden flipped back right before a rocket connected with the turret and destroyed it. Elizabeth opened one of the hook Tears, allowing her to leap down to the lower level. She landed behind one of the covers.

"Having fun?" she asked the cyborg as he avoided another rocket and got behind cover with her. This earned a deadpan look from her companion before he jumped back into the fray.

A heavily armored man with a rocket launcher came down the steps. Three more men followed after him as they launched a barrage of bullets, rockets and Vigor-powers at the cyborg ninja. Raiden ran out into the open while slicing down rockets, deflecting bullets and ducking under lightning bolts.

The cyborg ninja abruptly stopped a few feet in front of the soldiers. He brought his left foot down, cracking the asphalt, while he shot his left palm forward. The immense force behind the palm-strike caused a powerful displacement of air, which knocked the soldiers off their feet.

The former Maverick agent quickly stabbed the soldiers before they could get back up.

Raiden swiped his blade through the air to remove the blood on it while Elizabeth came out of her cover.

"Comstock's pet can do some wonderful tricks. Do you know what you've got there, Raiden?"

"She's just a kid, you son of a bitch!" Raiden growled with traces of the Ripper seeped into his voice, "Not some animal that you can order around! Call her that again and I'll rip you apart, limb from limb!"

"Not exactly how I want my death to be but that's the only thing that will end this conflict," Slate replied, "How many men have you killed since you arrived here? What's one more to that list?"

If the man wanted to die so badly, then the Ripper was more than willing to oblige.

"Raiden? the soft voice of his charge brought him out of his murderous thoughts and he turned to face her.

"Are you alright?" Elizabeth asked. She was a bit frightened by the cyborg's brief change in attitude.

"I'm fine," he replied as the Ripper withdrew itself from the sight of the scared young woman.

Despite not being entirely satisfied with his answer, she nodded. They then proceeded to climb the steps and enter the building.

The Hall of Heroes gift shop had bad lighting like all the other rooms they'd been in. A couple of president automatons were there in the corners of the room. They preached in their prerecorded voices about some random bits of history, which might not be completely accurate with all the rewritten historical texts the two found.

They made their way through the room in search of either Slate or the Shock Jockey.

"Tin men, Raiden. That's what Comstock will turn us to!" Slate shouted over the PA, "Wires and gears to replace heads and hearts! Just like you!"

Four spotlights came on, each illuminating an automaton in the gift shop. The mechanical presidents then came to life and slammed their fists onto the window, cracking the glass.

"Raiden," Elizabeth said with a trembling voice as hid behind the cyborg ninja.

The glass shattered as the four Motorized Patriots got out. Two were armed with a crank Gatling gun each while the other two wielded massive broadswords that were as tall as Raiden.

"Get down!" Raiden shouted as the two Motorized Patriots began spraying heavy rounds at them. He didn't see if Elizabeth went behind cover in time but since he didn't hear bullets tearing through flesh, his charge was safe for now. He was so focused on deflecting the bullets of the two Gatling guns that he barely had enough time to block the other two Motorized Patriots from slamming their enormous swords down on him.

The cyborg ninja let out an involuntary grunt as the combined force of their blades made his feet sink slightly into the ground. Using his tremendous strength, he shoved the two automatons back, making them lose their footing. He took advantage of this by making three large gashes on one of the sword-wielding Motorized Patriots before parrying another blow from the second one.

He tilted his blade a bit, making the broadsword slide off his blade and entrench itself into the ground. He jumped onto the sword to prevent the mechanized president from removing it and swiftly sliced off its arms. He then flipped back to avoid the swing from its companion. The armless George Washington robot wasn't so lucky as the Benjamin Franklin robot destroyed it with its broadsword.

Dispatching the Benjamin Franklin automaton by stabbing it from behind, Raiden saw a flash in his peripheral vision. Elizabeth must've opened a Tear when he saw a machine gun turret materialized and shot at the remaining two Motorized Patriots. The mechanical presidents then returned fire on the new threat.

While Raiden was busy fighting the Motorized Patriots, Elizabeth noticed a Tear in one of the corner. She quickly opened it up in hopes of aiding her companion after seeing that it was a turret.

Once again, the cyborg ninja surprised her with his unique fighting style. Instead of charging at the two Motorized Patriots or jumping behind cover, he sheathed his sword while the robots were distracted. He then assumed a stance before disappearing in a blur and reappearing behind the Motorized Patriots with his sword out.

After sheathing the blade with a resounding _CLICK_, the Motorized Patriots were sliced cleanly in half.

When the bodies crashed onto the floor, Elizabeth stood up from behind the desk that she was using as cover.

"Just when I thought that I know what you can do, you surprise me with another incredible feat," she said, surveying the destroyed mechanical bodies.

"I surprise even myself at times," Raiden said, looking over the defeated Motorized Patriots, "Now let's get that Shock Jockey."

These Motorized Patriots actually gave him a hard time. He could definitely handle them if it was just one but it was possible that Slate and Comstock have more these things stored up somewhere.

"You see, Raiden? You're just as much a soldier as any brave men that served under me all those years ago," Slate said over the PA, "But it doesn't matter. Comstock took our stories and scrubbed away our soul. Now, he's coming for and when I'm gone, all that will be left is the lie."

Ignoring the old man's words, the two managed to find a locked door, leading to a maintenance room. Elizabeth made short work of the lock and they went inside. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw a crate in the back with the label of Shock Jockey on the lid.

"It's about time," Raiden muttered as he walked up to the crate.

"Agreed," Elizabeth said as her companion pulled the lid off the crate. They were more than ready to retrieve the Shock Jockey and leave the Hall of Heroes. There was one problem though.

There was nothing inside.

"RAAAH!" Raiden screamed, punching the wall hard enough to shatter the bricks and mortar beneath it, "I'm getting real tired of your shit, Slate!"

Elizabeth stared in shock at the wall that Raiden shattered with seemingly no effort. She stood there for a few moments before she turned to look at the crate. She noticed a blue-ish purple liquid was stained on the side in the form of a handprint.

"Wait, Slate must have taken them. Look!" she said as she pointed at the matching footprints leading away from the crate.

The cyborg followed the tracks and narrowed his eyes.

"He's really making this more difficult than it has to be," he said as he unsheathed the HF Murasama blade and followed the tracks. They walked back into the gift shop.

They exited the building and were back in the courtyard just in time to see an airship hover overhead.

"Comstock's men are moving in. We need to get to Slate before they do," Raiden said as they stepped out into the open and stopped dead in their tracks.

In the center of the courtyard stood a giant metal construct that was disconcertingly similar to a Metal Gear with a red and blue paintjob. It had a hunched stance and in its clawed hands was an abnormally large battle-axe. Standing on where the head should be was the man that they were looking for.

"It was SLATE who killed for his country at Wounded Knee!" roared the war veteran before jumping into the cockpit. Several crystals emerged from his hands as an electrical current ran through them. Electricity then arced all over the Metal Gear-like machine as it came to life.

"_He's acting as the power source!"_ Raiden realized with a start.

A signpost lit up on the wall behind Slate that read: "We Deserve a Soldier's Death!"

"It was SLATE who stormed the gates of Peking! SLATE!"

Cornelius Slate leered down at them as electricity traveled across his body and the mobile suit.

"Comstock's coming, Raiden! But our lives won't satisfy him, oh no! He won't rest until he's lured us into tin! I won't let him! He took my past, but that's all he's getting from!"

"Elizabeth, stay out of this," Raiden calmly told his charge as he approached the old man, "This is just between us."

"You're right, soldier," Slate said as they both assumed a fighting stance, "It is."

"A SOLDIER'S DEATH AWAITS!"

AN:

Who has two thumbs and just gave Slate a Metal Gear to pilot?

That's right, ME!

If you want to know what Slate's Metal Gear looks like, just imagine Khamsin from the Bladewolf DLC in Metal Gear Rising: Reveangeance except with a red and blue color scheme. Look Khamsin up in the Metal Gear wikia if you don't know who the hell he is.


	5. Hit the Road Jack

AN:

I'm sure that you have already noticed the new cover image. A fan of this story sent me the link for the fanart and I just had to use it for this story's cover image.

To the artist who made the wonderful artwork, I just want to say that I'm flattered that my story gave you inspiration to draw your fanart and I hope that you will enjoy this new chapter.

I also slightly altered the courtyard where Raiden encounters Slate. It still looks exactly the same except there is more space for them to properly fight in.

And I said it before and I'll say it again: THIS IS NOT A RAIDEN/ELIZABETH PAIRING! Raiden will be like an older brother or a father figure to Elizabeth so there will be nothing romantic going on between them. Plus, Raiden is a married man and Elizabeth is like half his age.

Disclaimer: I don't own Metal Gear Rising or Bioshock

Chapter 5

For as long that she could remember, Elizabeth had always wondered what the world was like outside her tower. But she slowly began to lose hope as the years went by.

Then one day, her chance at freedom literally fell from the ceiling and into her life.

At first, she was wary of her supposed rescuer. The facial scars and the claw-like hands didn't help for the first impression. Seeing the man butcher someone with a sword certainly didn't show him in a good light either.

But the conviction that the girl saw in his eyes convinced her otherwise. He would willingly risk his own life for someone who he barely knew or shouldn't bother to care about. He promised her the freedom that she had constantly longed for because he thought it was the right thing to do.

It was as if he was one of the legendary heroes that she read about in storybooks. His very presence was almost unbelievable that she thought that she was in a dream.

His revelation that he was some kind of highly advanced Handyman from the year 2018 with a sword that can cut through anything was enough to make her head spin.

She didn't believe that he was like a Handyman though. She assumed that he only had his limbs replaced, which explained why he had claw-like metal hands.

That was until he had all of his clothes burned to ashes.

From the neck down, his body was sleeker and far more sophisticated than any cyborg that she saw in her books. It would take the great minds of Columbia decades if not centuries to replicate the kind of perfection that Raiden's cyborg body exuded.

The way that cybernetic limbs moved was like it was the real thing. A Handyman's movements were very sluggish in comparison.

"I already have. Not much left of me to burn anyway."

Then she remembered that he was more than a century ahead of her time.

Raiden had told her that almost every soldier had cybernetic implants like him. If a single cyborg soldier was capable of doing the same incredible feats like him, then an entire army of them was more than enough to take over the world.

And now he was about to face off with a foe that was far bigger than he was.

Elizabeth recognized the robot suit that Cornelius Slate was piloting as a Cyclops. It was a mechanical suit that was built for heavy-duty work or warfare in this case. It wielded superior strength than a Handyman but it wasn't as mobile and it's too expensive to mass-produce. So Handymen and cyborgs replaced the production line of the Cyclops series.

Normally, Raiden won't stand a chance against a Cyclops but after seeing the many things that the cyborg ninja was capable of, she wasn't entirely sure that would be the case. Not only was he far faster and stronger than average cyborgs but his proficiency with the blade was unmatched in the battlefield that even crank Gatling guns were rendered useless against him.

All of that left the young woman wondering.

"_What else is he capable of?"_

"A SOLDIER'S DEATH AWAITS!" the cry of the war veteran brought her out of her musings. It seemed that this exclamation signaled the duel to begin between the two.

It was Slate who made the first move. He charged at the cyborg and brought his battle-axe down. Raiden sidestepped the blow and performed a series of slashes on the legs of Slate's mobile suit, leaving decent sized gashes on the armor. Slate retaliated with a swipe from his ax but the giant blade was halted in mid-swing.

Elizabeth's eyes widened and mouth gaped open at the shocking display before her.

Raiden had blocked the ax with his sword and he was able to hold it back completely. Even a Handyman would be sent flying from that blow yet he was only slightly fazed. Though, it did looked like he was exerting some effort on his part when she noticed the clenching of his jaw and his metallic feet digging into the ground.

The stalemate ended as the two mechanized warriors jumped back.

"You're a lot stronger than you look, soldier!" Slate cried as he rushed forward at the cyborg again.

"You're not too bad yourself old man," Raiden replied as they clashed blades with each other.

It looked like the cyborg ninja had the upper hand since he was able to match Slate's Cyclops in strength and he was far more agile than the war veteran's mobile suit. Slate was barely able to lift his ax in time to block an attack from his much smaller opponent.

The tables were turned as the Cyclops caught the cyborg by surprise with a kick right after parrying with his ax. The silver haired cyborg was launched into the air from the force. Before Raiden could correct himself in midair, Slate's Cyclops grabbed his leg and slammed his body to the ground, creating a crater.

Raiden pushed himself off the ground and jumped back to avoid the massive battle-ax coming down on him. Raiden then lunged at Slate's Cyclops and dealt a heavy blow with his sword that was enough to knock the large metal construct back.

"Ugh!" the war veteran grunted as his mobile suit crashed into a wall, leaving several huge cracks on the concrete.

Raiden immediately took advantage of this and dashed forward to the Cyclops as it pried itself off the wall. Slate was able to bring to the battle-ax up to block the cyborg's attack.

Once again, the two mechanized warriors were locked in a standstill. The grim determination that they each had didn't falter in the slightest.

Elizabeth was so enraptured by the duel that she couldn't tear her eyes away from the scene before her.

Slate was the one who ended the stalemate as he attempted a cheap shot by backhanding the cyborg while he was distracted. Raiden performed a backflip to avoid the sucker punch.

He took out a couple of knives out and threw them at the old man. The blades struck their intended target but it wasn't enough to kill the old soldier as they imbedded themselves into his shoulders.

"Nice shot, soldier!" Slate grinned despite the knives sticking out of his shoulders as they charged at each other again.

The cyborg ninja jumped at the exposed cockpit and brought his sword down to end the battle faster by killing the pilot. But the old man had another idea as he shot a lightning bolt at him. Unable to dodge the lightning bolt in midair, Raiden brought his blade up in an attempt to block the electric attack.

Due to the fact that his sword was reinforced by a powerful alternating current and resonates at extremely high frequencies, the HF Murasama blade canceled out the electricity of the Shock Jockey. But it didn't stop the strength behind the bolt so Raiden was still pushed back by it.

While he was in midair, Slate swung his battle-ax at Raiden in an attempt to cleave him in half. The cyborg ninja bent his body backwards as the blade scraped his chin, making sparks fly on contact.

Placing his feet on the ax, he kicked off the weapon, giving himself some distance and knocking his foe back. Raiden allowed the Lutece Infusion to slowly repair his body while Slate was trying to catch his breath. They then glared intently at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move so that they could exploit it.

"You know," the war veteran said, suddenly breaking the standoff, "You remind me of another fine soldier that used to serve under me."

"Really now?" Raiden replied as he rested the katana on his shoulder. His stance became more relaxed but if one would look more closely, they would see the tenseness in his artificial muscles, which were ready to move at moment's notice.

"Yes and he had earned great honor for his country back at Wounded Knee. The White Injun we called him because of his habit of taking trophies from his victims."

The cyborg ninja was rather insulted that Slate would compare a man like that with him. Sure, he had earned the highest body count in his whole squadron at the tender age of ten but never took anything from his enemies as a trophy save for their lives.

From the look of his charge's face, she thought the same.

"But he didn't take pride in his deeds," Slate continued, "He felt shame and regret for his part in the battle."

Maybe Raiden and this man that Slate was talking about had a lot more in common than he initially thought.

"A soldier should be proud of his accomplishments on the battlefield, not be ashamed of them! When I look into your eyes, I see that they're just like his!"

"But I've seen the look in your eyes when you take a life," Slate said, "You enjoy killing your enemies. It just gives you a thrill, doesn't it?"

"There's no honor in war," Raiden shook his head, choosing not the answer his question, "Your friend most likely thought the same as well."

"In the end, the line that separates a soldier and a monster are so blurred that the only difference is how much you get paid."

"Then show me," Slate challenged, "If you are a soldier or a monster!"

"No."

"What?" The war veteran was taken aback by the cyborg's quick and blunt response, "Why the hell not!?"

"You're not worth it," Raiden simply said as he lowered his sword.

Unleashing the Ripper against a man like Slate wasn't worth it if he was going to do so in front of Elizabeth. She was terrified of just seeing Raiden killing someone. Just imagine if he let Jack the Ripper out.

"What was that!?" Slate roared with outrage as he felt a vein pop in his head.

"I don't need to stop holding myself back for someone like you," Raiden pointed at Slate with his sword.

"Is that so…"

"Then I'll just force you to take me seriously!" the war veteran bellowed as he raised the battle-ax.

"I am taking you seriously," Raiden replied as he sheathed his sword with his finger hovering over the trigger.

The old man growled and charged at the cyborg ninja. When he was upon him, Raiden squeezed the trigger.

To any spectator (*cough*Elizabeth*cough*), everything seemed to happen in a blur. Fire erupted from the sheath as Raiden slashed upwards. Slate suddenly froze and stared down at Raiden in shock as his weapon was sliced into several pieces.

"I don't need a weapon to kill you, TIN MAN!" Slate exclaimed as he tossed aside what was left of his ax.

"I CAN STILL CRUSH YOU WITH THESE!" the war veteran screamed as he tried to grab the cyborg with the mechanical arms.

Before he could tackle Raiden, the cyborg ninja held the HF Murasama blade with both hands.

Unknown to Slate and Elizabeth, Raiden had activated Blade Mode the moment the old man tried to grab him. With extremely precise cuts that were too fast for the naked eye to see, the cyborg ninja reduced the Cyclops arms into scrap. He followed it up with a roundhouse kick to the metal construct, scattering the pieces that were once its arms.

"What! How!" Slate exclaimed in disbelief.

Instead of replying, Raiden quickly cut off the legs of the Cyclops, causing it to topple down.

The cyborg ninja then watched Cornelius Slate crawl out of the wreckage of the Cyclops. He was a bit surprised that the old man hadn't kicked the bucket yet.

"That was one hell of a fight, soldier," Slate panted as he sat against the destroyed Cyclops while Raiden put his sword back in its sheath.

"But you're not done here, soldier!" he rasped out, "Eat everything that's on your plate!"

"Finish it, Raiden!" the veteran held out a pistol with the handle facing the cyborg.

Raiden could see that the old man had lost the will to fight. The lone eye that used to burn with an obsessive determination was no more. To someone who had fought as long as Slate had, death was the only way to end this man's battle. Now was the only chance that he could get to die on his own terms.

"I'll make it quick," Raiden told the old soldier as he clutched the handle of the pistol and took it.

"Don't look," the cyborg said to his charge as he pressed the barrel against Slate's forehead. Elizabeth covered her mouth with her hands and obediently looked away with her eyes clenched shut.

"What was the name of the man that you were comparing me with?"

"His name was Booker DeWitt."

"Good to know."

"Don't let this city change you."

"It's not the city that I'm worried about."

_BANG!_

00000

"This better be worth it, Slate," Raiden muttered as he searched the dead man's satchel and pulled out a dark purple bottle with a lightning bolt that had a small man riding on top of it as the lid.

"_Now what am I going to do with you?"_ the cyborg wondered.

As if to answer his question, two video screens popped up on his Codec. The video screen on his left showed Robert Lutece while the video screen on his right showed Rosalind Lutece.

"JESUS H. CHRIST!" Raiden cried out in astonishment, nearly dropping the Vigor in his hand.

"What's the matter, Raiden?" Elizabeth looked to her companion in alarm at his unexpected outburst while idly wondering what does the "H" stand for. She couldn't see the Lutece twins being shown on the video screens due to the fact that they only exist in Raiden's mind.

"How the hell are two calling me?" the cyborg demanded as he pressed two fingers to his temple, causing further confusion to his charge, " Better yet, how did you even have access to my Codec? It's heavily encrypted so no can call me unless I know them."

"You know what!" he cut them off as they opened their mouths to answer, "I don't need to know! You're just going to give me a headache when you two explain it to me!"

"Who are talking to?"

[It seems that you have come across very useful Vigor.] Rosalind said over the Codec.

[One that was especially made to work on both humans and cyborgs such as yourself.] Robert added.

"You mean I can still use this stuff despite being a cyborg?" Raiden queried as he examined the Vigor.

[All of Columbia relies on this Vigor due to it being the major power source that is also the easiest to access.]

[In fact, the Handymen cyborgs are powered by this very Vigor.]

"Are you saying that this will give me unlimited fuel cells?"

[Unfortunately for you, it won't.]

[Your cybernetic body functions quite differently to a Handyman.]

[Thus using it will deplete your fuel cells by a miniscule yet noticeable amount.]

[But it will be more than adequate to aid you on your quest.]

"Will I be able to use more Vigors?"

[No.]

[Only the Shock Jockey was made in mind to cyborgs.]

"Oh, well. Bottom's up," Raiden shrugged as he brought the bottle to his lips. But he stopped himself before he drank the contents, "I'm not going to explode if I drink this, right?"

[You might.]

[You might not.]

[Both possibilities are very likely.]

"Why do I even ask?" the cyborg sighed.

[You desire answers.]

[I believe that what he said was a rhetorical question so you didn't have to answer it, brother.]

[If he didn't want his question to be answered, then he should not have asked in the first place, sister.]

Not wanting to listen to the twins bickering between themselves, Raiden shut off his Codec, ending the transmission. If only he could have been able to do that the first time that he had to deal with them, then it would save him the time and the headache.

Wanting to get this over with before he lost his nerve, he downed the contents of the bottle. The bottle fell from his hand where it shattered on the ground as the Vigor took full effect.

Unlike the time with the Lutece Infusion, the effects were instantaneous. His body convulsed uncontrollably as streams of electricity burst out of him. He felt like he was being crushed, incinerated, frozen, stabbed, and pulled apart at the same time.

It dragged on for a few yet agonizing minutes. It then gave out one big electrical explosion before he collapsed to the ground.

A smoldering ring appeared the ground that he was standing on.

"I'm never doing that again," Raiden groaned as he tried to pick himself up. He could see his charge approach him. Luckily, she remained unscathed during the Shock Jockey's result.

"Are you alright?" Elizabeth asked in alarm as she helped him up.

"Peachy," he said as he squared his shoulders.

"What happened earlier? Who were you talking to? And what on earth possessed you to drink that?"

"I'll explain later but I need you to wait for a few minutes," he said, noticing a new VR Tutorial.

The VR was labeled "Shock Jockey For Cyborg". This must be sent to him by the Luteces to help get a handle on his new ability.

Selecting the VR Mission, he instantly found himself in a very familiar and very bright yellow room. It was then followed by several Cyborg Soldiers (the ones in MGR, not the Columbian ones) spawning.

**Hold R2 to imbue your sword with electricity.**

"What in the hell does 'Hold R2'?" Raiden wondered out loud. But he tried to follow the instruction anyway.

The red electricity that danced along the blade seemed to have increased in intensity. With an experimental swing, the electricity burst out of the sword. The energy struck a few cyborgs that were out of range of his blade and they began to convulse as if they were hit an EMP.

He could see that each swing depleted his fuel cells by a little bit.

**R2 + O HOLD to unleash a devastating attack.**

"R2 + O HOLD? What the hell are you talking about!?"

Without warning, he felt an extreme burning sensation on his sword arm. He held his arm as the electricity on his became too hard to contain. Feeling that he was about to explode, he stabbed his sword into the ground. As soon as he did that, a large electrical explosion burst out of his body and blasted the remaining virtual cyborgs back.

This stunt took out a huge chunk on fuel cells reserves so he should use this sparingly or when the situation calls for it.

**MISSION COMPLETE**

He found himself back in the courtyard with Elizabeth staring at him like he was crazy.

"You're probably wondering what was that about," Raiden sheepishly grinned.

"You think?" she deadpanned.

"You see, average telephones started to become obsolete and portable versions were created so that we can communicate anywhere," he explained.

"What does that have anything to do with what happened earlier?"

"Since I'm a cyborg, I have phone attached to my brain so I'm the only one who can hear the person on the other end."

"You… have a telephone on your head?" she repeated rather slowly.

"Yeah, pretty much," he nodded.

"So…whom were you talking to?"

"The Luteces."

"What did they want?"

"They wanted to tell me that the Shock Jockey would work on cyborgs like me."

As Elizabeth was about to ask him another question, a zeppelin flew over them.

"I think it would be better if we get the hell out here first," the cyborg suggested.

"Me too."

The cyborg ninja and his charge then retraced their steps back to the front of the Hall of Heroes.

"In all my life, the thought of taking someone's life never crossed my mind," Elizabeth said as they passed the First Lady's memorial, "But after watching you fight, I now know that you have to do what you have to."

"Elizabeth," Raiden called out to her, making her turn to face him, "Even though I'm doing this because I have to, it doesn't mean that it's okay for you to pick up a gun and shoot someone with it."

"Think about the soldiers that I killed. Think about the family that they left behind. Think about the future that _I_ stole from them."

"When you kill a human being, you not only take away their life but you take away someone else's loved one."

"Dwelling on these details can make a man lose their sanity. Do you want the to bear these consequences on your conscience?"

…

"Do you know why I fight?" he inquired, "Why I kill?"

"No. Why do you?" she replied.

"So others won't."

With that said, they resumed their trek back to the beginning. While on the way, Raiden found a black overcoat. It kind of looked like the one that he wore during Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection. Since it was long enough to conceal his cyborg appearance, he put it on.

"Raiden, wait," Elizabeth said, making the cyborg pause as he was about to go through the door, "How do you do it, keep yourself sane that is?"

"I went through a shitload of rehabilitation."

"But it still wasn't enough," he added from under his breath so Elizabeth couldn't hear that last part.

After fighting through Slate's leftover soldiers, they finally reached the front of the Hall of Heroes. Raiden wasn't the least bit surprised by what they saw.

Comstock's men were dropping in from airships along the front steps of the building. Slate's forces were able to hold their own but the superior numbers was slowly overwhelming them.

It appeared that both sides were too preoccupied to notice the duo yet. They could use this to their advantage. The empty crates that he spotted were the key to his plan.

"Elizabeth, I have a plan that will let us sneak past both sides," Raiden grinned as he turned to look at his charge.

"I am not getting on your back again," Elizabeth frowned, recalling the previous time that they had to be stealthy.

"No, I have something else in mind."

"What is it?"

The skeptical look that formed on her face as he told her his plan was quite amusing. Raiden wondered if that what his face looked like when Solid Snake taught him the trick.

"You can not be serious."

"It's that or get on my back."

"…Fine," the young woman sighed, conceding to his plan no matter how childishly simple it was.

Neither Comstock's "tin men" or Slate's soldiers saw the two crates moving around to the side of the battlefield. If someone were to notice these unusual boxes, they would see that there was a pair of feet sticking out of the bottom of each box. For anyone that did see this oddity, they would get a bullet to the skull due to their distraction from the battle.

Once the moving crates got on the gondola that would lead them back to the amusement park and made sure that they were out of sight, the crates were lifted up to reveal a young woman and a cyborg ninja.

"I can't believe that worked," Elizabeth said in amazement as Raiden pulled the lever.

The transport began taking them back to the end of the skyway.

"Simple yet they never see it coming," Raiden said.

"That I have to agree on but I don't think I can be cramped inside some box for hours at a time," she responded as the port came back into view.

"I don't think I can spend hours hiding inside a box either," Raiden agreed as the gondola stopped and let them off back at Soldier's Field.

The enemies there were easy compared to the soldier's back at the Hall of Heroes. But then again, they weren't much of a threat to begin with against a cyborg ninja like Raiden.

They followed their old path back to the gondola that would take them to the First Lady airship's docking bay. Raiden charged his hand with electricity and placed it on the power conduit. The gears were powered up as they waited for their transport to come.

Raiden looked up to see the night sky giving way to the rising sun. For the first time today, things were going their way.

Then fate decided to bite them in the ass.

"He will abandon you, my sweet Elizabeth," Comstock's voice resonated through the amusement park on the PA system, "Once he has what he needs, he will leave you alone. What else can you expect from a man who earned himself the name: _Jack the Ripper_?"

"Father…Prophet…whoever you are. I am leaving and there is nothing you can do to stop me!" she shouted with so much conviction that Raiden almost forgot he was supposed to be protecting her.

"Oh, sweet child, you are very wrong about that," Comstock replied, "The False Shepard is attempting to lead you astray from my protective embrace and you will soon see who he truly is."

"Like I said before, if showing her a life outside the cage that you put her in is to lead her astray, then you can call me the False Shepard as much as you want," the cyborg ninja said.

The only response that he got was the sounds of the airships, closing in on their location. They began unloading soldiers and police officers onto nearby docks.

"Elizabeth, I want you to take cover and-"

"And leave you alone?" she interjected as the airships began dropping off troops into the park, "There are Tears all over the place. I can help you!"

"Fine!" he exclaimed, unsheathing his sword and shooting a red lightning bolt from it at some men. The voltage chained across the small group, giving him enough time to cut them down, "But hide up on that ledge over there. It'll give you a good view of the area to lend me some help and you'll also be safe there. Now GO!"

Raiden was forced to go on the defensive as rounds from an automated turret that was on one of the gunships fired on them. Deflecting the bullets, the cyborg ninja sprinted towards the airship with the turret and jumped to it with the aid from his cybernetic enhancements. Once the ship was within blade's reach, he sliced it in half, making the remaining soldiers that were on it fall to their deaths.

He attached his Sky-Hook to his left arm and latched onto the nearest Sky-Line before he could fall off Columbia. He zoomed across the Sky-Lines with the end of his black overcoat being blown back by the speed. He was moving too fast for the enemy to get a proper shot on him.

As if following his lead, a number of Comstock's men latched onto the Sky-Lines to match his speed.

"Oh no, you don't," the cyborg snarled as he electrified the whole track, causing everyone except him to fall off.

The lucky ones were able to land safely with only minor injuries. The not so lucky ones were so far up that they became seriously hampered by their injuries from the fall. The very unlucky ones didn't even land on any part of the floating isles.

Falling from a height of more than fifteen thousand feet in the sky was quite a terrifying way to die.

He saw a flash of white light that he recognized as a Tear opening as he dropped down and slammed his Sky-Hook on an armored soldier that was on one of the airships. He then threw his sword to the side, impaling the second soldier through the chest and pinning his body to what looked like the mast of the ship.

"Victory at all costs!" he heard the mechanical voice of a Motorized Patriot. He whipped his head to the side to see a Motorized Patriot trudging down the pier with its crank-powered Gatling gun tearing Comstock's forces apart. This one had the same grainy like quality to it of Tears so it was a no-brainer on where this thing came from.

He looked up to the ledge where he had sent Elizabeth and saw her waving at him. She turned and held out her hand, opening another tear that unleashed a MG turret. It quickly began firing on another squad of soldiers on the ground below.

Raiden placed his foot under the discarded rocket launcher and kicked up, sending it flying to his grasp. He took aim on another airship and shot it down with a well-placed missile.

He pulled his sword out of the dead man's chest and jumped off the airship before it began to plummet down. He took position on a nearby balcony.

There were two more airships flying in. After sheathing his sword, he fired a rocket at one of the new airships, shooting it out of the sky.

"Raiden, I have some ammo! Catch!" he heard his charge call out to him. He turned around in time to catch a fresh magazine for his RPG.

He was really enjoying working with her. All of the people that he had to escort (*cough*babysit*cough*) were practically useless in a fight but Elizabeth proved that she wasn't some damsel in distress that needed rescuing every five seconds.

He removed the spent magazine and jammed in the new one. He fired a missile right into a cluster of soldiers and blew them apart instantly. He fired the last rocket into the last airship thus clearing out the skies. Now all that was left were the soldiers on the ground.

He tossed aside the empty RPG and drew the HF Murasama blade.

"You want her see who I truly am, Comstock?" he announced.

"I am Lightning!" he declared with his voice taking on an echo-y tone. He jumped off the balcony and aimed a falling kick at the last group of soldiers. The move was similar to his Falling Lightning attack except his entire body was wreathed in electricity, giving him an appearance of a lightning bolt.

"The Rain transformed!" he roared mere seconds before crashing into the squad of Comstock's forces, effectively wiping them out. The island shook from the force of that one attack.

"Note to self: lay off the showboating," Raiden said to himself as he climbed out of the crater that he made. Once he was out of the crater, he fell flat on his back. He was shaken up by his own move and his fuel cells were completely spent because of it. How his coat remained mostly intact was mystery even to him.

The cyborg ninja figured that he had some time to recuperate since the turret and Motorized Patriot that Elizabeth summoned were picking off any leftover stragglers that he missed.

In a matter of minutes, they were finally cut down, leaving Soldier's Field empty. The Motorized Patriot expired due to the damage that it received. It disappeared in a flash of light as Elizabeth zipped back down the Sky-Lines and landed back on the pier.

"Everything okay?" she asked, a little worried. She had seen Raiden's kick. As spectacular as it was, she feared that it had severe repercussions as he lied down on the ground.

Raiden raised his legs into the air and kicked them down as he pushed off the ground with his hands, successfully pulling off a "Chinese Get-Up". It was a maneuver that he saw in those Kung-Fu movies.

"I'm fine. You?"

"I just want to get out of here…away from this city and away from _him_," she said, referring to the man who claimed to be her father.

"And there's our ride," Raiden gestured to the gondola as it finished docking with the pier.

They then stepped aboard the gondola. After Elizabeth quickly picked the lock, the cyborg ninja pulled the lever. The transport began making its way to where the First Lady Airship was docked.

They rode in silence but there was a bit of tension in the air between them.

"Raiden." He turned and looked at his charge who had her arms crossed and was biting her lip.

"Before all those men came to attack us, what does Comstock mean by you "earning the name: Jack the Ripper"?"

"There are some things in a man's life that he just doesn't want to talk about," Raiden said as he looked away from her, "And what Comstock said was one of them."

"Oh, all right then," she shifted her gaze to her feet.

"But maybe-_maybe_, I'll tell you about it someday," he said, making her look at him, "Perhaps when we get out of Columbia, okay?"

"Okay."

The gondola came to a stop at the docking bay. They exited the transport and entered the station without any trouble. Raiden had already scanned ahead with the Solid Eye and it showed him that there were four soldiers waiting for them in the main building.

The cyborg went ahead and quickly dispatched them, allowing the two scavenge around the room for anything useful. He replenished his fuel cells with the bottles of Salts there before they made up the main staircase and into an elevator.

"Is "Raiden" even your real name?" Elizabeth asked him as the lift ascended.

"No, Raiden is merely a codename that I call myself during missions," he answered, "But you already heard what my real is, didn't you?"

She was confused by what he said. He didn't even mention any other name besides "Raiden". So what did he mean by having heard of it already?

"Wait, how do you figure Comstock had known about your real name and you coming?"

"Well, supposedly, the man's a "Prophet"," he said, adding finger quotes to prophet, "But I have a theory that it has something to do with all these Tears. I saw you open up a portal to the future so maybe he saw a Tear that showed my arrival to Columbia and what I was going to do."

"Maybe you're right," she said as she pursed her lips in thought, "Maybe that _is_ how he can tell the future."

The elevator stopped at the top floor and opened up to a long walkway that lead straight to the airship. The cyborg ninja and the young woman moved down the walkway and stepped into the First Lady.

The airship's interior looked more like the living room of a home instead of a bridge of zeppelin with the comfortable couches and walls lined with books.

After surveying the place, Raiden found a Lutece Infusion. He picked up the bottle and drank the contents.

Setting the empty bottle aside, he went to the controls. As he was about to start the ship, he realized that he didn't know the exact coordinates to New Zealand and Paris.

He never had the need to know geography since he usually had a GPS to tell him where to go so he didn't have any idea on what to do.

"I have to be honest to you," Raiden said, thinking that he should tell Elizabeth about the details to his job before telling her that he didn't know the way to any of their destinations, "My job isn't to take you to Paris. I'm supposed to take you to New Zealand."

"But you said…" Elizabeth muttered in disbelief.

"I didn't say that I would take you to Paris. You just assumed that."

The words left his mouth before he could stop them. He mentally smacked himself in the head for the way that he said it. It sounded like he was some manipulative bastard.

If that wasn't bad enough, his charge began to cry.

"Oh god, please don't," he pleaded.

He fought against mercenaries, terrorists, Metal Gears, cyborgs, a self-proclaimed vampire, and even a _fucking senator_! But he found himself helpless on what to do to comfort a tearful Elizabeth.

After coming to a decision, he goes to her to try to comfort her or at least tell her that he was still going to take her to Paris.

In an unexpected twist of events, she turned around and lashed out with a wrench. The sudden strike caught him off guard so he couldn't avoid in time or roll with the blow. He got knocked back a step by the girl's surprise attack.

They stared at each other in shock. Raiden was shocked and slightly impressed that Elizabeth had it in her to attack him like that while Elizabeth was shocked that he didn't look the least bit winded from getting hit on the head with wrench.

If his skull weren't made of metal, he would have been rendered unconscious and be left with a mild concussion. Elizabeth will never cease to amaze him.

"Ow," he said, breaking the silence, "Okay, I did not see that one coming."

"That one though," he caught her arms by the wrists as she tried to hit him again, "I saw a mile away."

"Let go off me!" she angrily yelped at him as she struggled to break out of his grip.

"Only if you promise not to hit me again," he told her as he removed the wrench from her hands while keeping a firm yet gentle hold on his charge's wrists.

"Fine," she mumbled, knowing that it was futile due to how strong he was.

As promised, he released his hold on her.

He received a furious glare from the girl in response as she rubbed her wrists, trying to get the feeling back into them.

"That was quite a swing, you got there," he complimented as he handed the tool back to her, "You should hold on to that just in case."

"Raiden!" Elizabeth gasped, making him whip his head to the side. He saw another airship that had come out of hiding and it was heading to the dock that they were in. Unlike the ships used by Comstock's men, this one had red painted along the sides, looking like stripes. The paintjob really made it stand out with all the white clouds around them.

"Get out of here, Elizabeth!" Raiden shouted to his companion before something suddenly slammed into their airship, which was followed by a purple energy wave. He felt his body ceased to move, not responding at all to his commands.

"_EMP!"_ he realized with a start as he fell forward, unable to stop himself.

The last thing that he saw before his vision began to black out was Elizabeth frantically trying to steer the ship. Seeing that it wasn't working, she ran for the open doorway.

Everything became black by the time as his body began to restart himself. The effects of the EMP won't keep him down forever but it will still take some time for his systems to reboot.

While this was happening, he couldn't see, hear or feel to know what was going on around him so he was unaware of the people that had boarded the airship and didn't even feel the fist that smacked into his cheek.

00000

**SYSTEMS RESTORED. BEGINNING POWER-UP SEQUENCE**

Raiden opened his eyes and he saw himself facing the ground as he floated over it.

"Not the weirdest situation that I ever woke up to," he muttered as he passed over a group of people in prison outfits that were breaking down rocks with pickaxes. He caught sight of a Handyman watching over the prisoners and cracking his mechanical knuckles menacingly.

"Fresh air did the trick. This one's awake." A hand grabbed the lapels of Raiden's coat and tried to pull him up. Acting on reflex, he grabbed the offending hand and flipped its owner over him as he quickly stood back up. He still held on to the man's arm, leaving him dangling over the edge. He idly took note that his hostage's right hand was bandaged up especially around the knuckles. He must have punched something pretty damn hard for it to end up like this.

The cyborg turned to glare at the guns that were pointing at him. Several of the men flinched back from his scowl but still continued to aim their weapons on him.

"Put your guns down or I'll drop him," he warned them as he loosened his grip on his hostage, causing the man to slip slightly.

A woman slowly made her way to the front of the group as the rest reluctantly lowered their rifles.

"So you're this "False Shepard" we been hearing so much about. Raiden," she said with a heavy accent.

"Caused a mess of trouble at the raffle," she continued as she stepped closer to him.

"And you must be Daisy Fitzroy, the anarchist that everyone's been talking about so much," he said, giving an once-over of the woman.

"Nothing but," Fitzroy said with a slight smirk, "Me and mine owe you a big thanks for cutting up Comstock's forces."

"And you did it all with ain't nothing but this sword here," she added, brandishing the HF Murasama blade, "I ain't never seen nothing like this before. What kind of sword is this?"

"You better give me the sword or I'll show you that I don't need it to kill everyone here in my airship."

"Really? 'Cause it sure look like old Comstock's airship to me," she said as the men behind her raised their guns.

"I don't really need to start a fight with you, Fitzroy," Raiden said as he adjusted his grip on his captive's arm.

The leader of the Vox shook her head before motioning to all the wounded around them, "There's already a fight, Raiden! Only question is: which side you on?" Fitzroy stepped a little closer, "Comstock is the god of the white man, the rich man, the pitiless. But if you believe in the common folk, then join the Vox. If you believe in the righteous folk, then join the Vox."

Under normal circumstances, Raiden wouldn't mind siding with the Vox Populi. But he didn't have the time to wage war against a corrupt leader. He already did that last week except it was in Pakistan and the corrupt leader was Senator Armstrong.

"As awe-inspiring as your speech was, I have to declined because I have other more pressing matters to attend to. So just give me back my sword and my ship and I'll be out of your hair."

"And the Vox shall give them to you," Fitzroy said, tossing the katana to him, which he caught with his other hand.

"But for the ship, you must help the Vox first," she added, reaching into her pocket and producing a business card, "Down in Finkton, there's a gunsmith who can supply weapons to our cause. You get our guns from him and you shall have your ship back."

Raiden threw his captive back inside before taking the card and slipping it into his coat pocket.

"I'll get your guns but if you ever double-cross me," he said as his eyes glowed with blood-red lights, "Nothing will keep you from me. Not men. Not weapons. Not armor."

"And one more thing," he said as the Solid Eye slid over his left eye, "Did you really kill Lady Comstock?"

"…I sure did," she answered with a bit of hesitation.

Raiden narrowed his eyes as the Solid Eye detected that her heart started to beat faster.

"_She's lying,"_ he thought as he leaned over the edge, letting gravity take hold of him. He flipped his body back so that he landed on his feet with the fingers of his right hand pressing on the ground. His landing cracked the ground beneath his feet. It was rather surprising that no one noticed him yet on the wharf that he dropped in.

The docking area was stationed around a large factory. The sign on the front of the building read: "Fink MFG" with the image of a very familiar looking man.

"Wasn't he the man from the raffle," the cyborg murmured to himself as he began checking over his weapons. Fortunately, the Vox hadn't taken anything else from him while he was incapacitated.

He still had his Sky-Hook and it seemed like Fitzroy only bothered to take his sword from him so she could examine it. He doubted that she was successful at removing the blade from its sheath because of the ID lock that he had on it.

Speaking of the HF Murasama blade, he flicked the switch on the sheath, which rendered it invisible to the naked eye.

"I better find Elizabeth before any of Comstock's men does," he said to himself as he made his way down the wharf and along the side of the factory.

He knew exactly where she was because of the tracker that he secretly placed on her. It may have been an underhanded thing to do but it never hurt to be prepared since this was the third time that they were separated from each other.

He passed by a group of men scrubbing the wooden deck of the walkway in a clockwork fashion. A couple of police officers patrolled the area, making Raiden pull his coat tighter around his body to hide his cyborg appearance. But the officers just passed by him, not even giving him a second glance as they continued their rounds.

You would probably think that someone wearing an overcoat with silver hair and several facial scars would attract a lot of attention. But that didn't seem to be the case at the moment. They didn't even look down to see the cybernetic feet or hands that were sticking out of the coat.

Continuing on his journey, Raiden saw that the path was blocked by a freight that had crashed. Bottles of Shock Jockey were broken and scattered along the ground with electrified crystals growing from the puddles.

A lone man stood with a clipboard, surveying the damage. He didn't seem to notice the cyborg walking past him.

The cyborg ninja went through another compartment that lead back to the path and to a set of doors leading inside.

"Get out of here, snipe," a man's voice growled from the other side as Raiden began to pull the door open, "You wanna know what we do to pretty little stowaways? Or maybe you don't."

He ripped the doors open to see Elizabeth get tossed onto the walkway. She turned her head to him and her eyes widened at the sight of him.

"Elizabeth, wait!" the cyborg shouted as she got to her feet quickly and took off running.

"I'm not mad!" he called out again as he ran after her.

"Stay away from me!" she yelled back as a Tear opened right in front of him.

He moved at a ridiculously sluggish pace as he passed through the Tear. He reverted back to his previous pace. He swiftly caught up to his charge, but apparently, she had other ideas.

This time a marching band appeared to block his path. But he simply jumped over them before he could bump into them.

"GO AWAY!" she screamed at him as she opened one last Tear.

Something crashed into his right side with a force of a freight train and it continued pushing to the left with the same amount of force. He turned his head to the right see that _it was a freight train that crashed into him_!

Fortunately for him, the Tear didn't stay open for long. The train disappeared, allowing him to roll to the ground until he stopped in a crumpled heap.

This was the second time that he came very close to dying in Columbia. The first time was because of a giant bird-like creature while the second time was because of his irate charge.

If it weren't for Elizabeth detesting the idea of taking a life, Raiden would be pretty sure that she was trying to kill him. But he should really clear things out with her before it gets more complicated.

However, he should really wait for the Lutece Infusion to fully repair his body or at least until he's well enough to move.

AND HOW THE HELL WAS HIS COAT STILL INTACT!?

00000

Elizabeth was running as fast as her legs could carry her but she knew that she stood no chance to outrun the cyborg ninja so she had to improvise.

The first Tear helped in slowing him down but he was still able to catch up to her, forcing her to open another Tear.

What came out of the Tear slammed right into the cyborg. She could tell that the freight train was so fast that she highly doubted that even _he_ could survive that.

Then she was suddenly hit by a startling realization.

She killed him.

He may have lied to her and was only using her so he could return home. But that didn't mean that she wanted him dead. She was just so angry at him that she lashed out at him with rage overclouding her rational side.

"_No, there's no need to dwell on it at the moment,"_ she thought as she shook her head, _"I have to get out of Columbia first."_

Exiting the docking storage area, Elizabeth found herself in a large office. She kept a hand on the wrench that she used to hit the cyborg. Following his advice, she kept the tool and made a makeshift holster for it with her ascot. She was going to need it since she was on her own now.

She opened a Tear at the far end to create an opening and went through it. Out of nowhere, two men grabbed her arms.

"The Lamb, it's her! Call it in, call it in!" one of the soldiers said excitedly.

"No! Let me go!" the girl screamed as she struggled to break free.

"We got her!" the other soldier said.

Thinking fast, she kicked one of the soldiers on the crotch, making him let go of her arm. With her arm free, she took out the wrench and whacked the other soldier on the head with it.

Not waiting for the first soldier to recover, she brought her wrench down on his head, knocking him out.

Her breaths were heavy as the adrenaline flowed throughout her body. She clutched her heart, feeling it beat a mile a minute.

She was shocked by how fast she reacted in the heat of the moment. The sight of the unconscious soldiers lying on the ground took a few minutes for her brain to properly register what happened.

"Requested troops are on their way," someone said over the PA system, causing her to jump.

Oh no.

Even though she took these men out already, she wasn't confident enough that she could face any reinforcements. The metal wrench in her hands didn't seem so reassuring right now.

She hastily searched around her for anything that could help escape the soldiers before they caught her.

Elizabeth found the solution to her current predicament through a Tear that she found. It held the same dog-like silhouette back at the Hall of Heroes so she didn't know what it was exactly.

Since everything that she brought out through a Tear aided her so far, she shot out a white beam of light from her palm and opened it.

As the flash of light dissipated, she finally got a good look at what she summoned.

It didn't have the same grainy-like quality unlike everything else that she brought out from Tears for some reason.

Now that she got a good look of it, she could see that it was some sort of wolf-shaped automaton with the sleek black metal that it was made out of. Save for its long tail, every detail gave it the wolf-like qualities.

It also looked very lethal with the razor sharp claws and blades at its feet and the numerous knives secured to its hind legs.

"There she is!" someone called out, "We got her!"

"S-stay back! I'm warning you!" she stuttered as she raised her wrench at the approaching soldiers.

"Comstock wants you and we mean to give you to him!" one of the soldiers said.

"NO! I AM NOT LETTING YOU TAKE ME BACK TO THAT TOWER!"

Before any of the men could respond to her outburst, several knives shot through the air, stabbing through their skulls.

She turned around saw that the thrower was the wolf automaton. It then did another thing that left her astounded. It spoke.

"I do not know who you are or why these men are after you," it said in a mechanical and monotone voice, unlike the automatons in Columbia, "But I can see that they have an ill intent towards you from your reaction. Am I correct in assuming so?"

"Um…pretty much?" Elizabeth half asked and half stated, "Who-what are you?"

"I am an IF Prototype LQ-84i, a next generation weapon meant to replace human combatants and cyborgs on the battlefield," it answered, "Designated name: Blade Wolf."


End file.
